Legacies
by Super Chocolate Bear
Summary: Flash recieves an unexpected and not entirely welcome visitor, while an old friend becomes a deadly new enemy.
1. Meet Hunter Zolomon

(A/N: A word of warning: this is a Flash fic much more than it is a JLU one. It's just set in the DCAU. That's not to say that JLU characters won't turn up, but this is more like an episode of some imaginary Flash animated series. Okay? Okay.)

Disclaimer: The Flash and all DC related stuff isn't mine.

_**Legacies**_

**_Chapter One: Meet Hunter Zolomon_**

The struggling car drifted slightly to the left, and Detective Hunter Zolomon moved the wheel slightly to the right to adjust. He grunted in annoyance at the fact that he had been forced to do so at least twelve times today, today being a particularly miserable Tuesday. He remembered that he had made a note somewhere in his apartment to take the car in for a check up, but his line of work didn't allow for much free time. At least, that's what he told himself. And Ashley, for that matter. He reached down and turned on the car radio, hoping to find some indication as to how much longer this downpour of rain was going to last. He winced as the music blasted from the speakers, and quickly turned the volume dial the other way.

_Probably Wally's doing, _he thought to himself with a grumble, lighting up a cigarette as he did so. Although he considered the young man his best friend, he was a handful almost all of the time, especially since he was also the costumed adventurer known as The Flash. He had initially been touched that Wally trusted him enough to tell him that he was the Flash, although it put Hunter in awkward situations with his fellow policemen. During his early days as the Flash, Wally hadn't been too careful about protecting his secret identity, talking to Hunter casually in and out of costume, causing many eyebrows to rise in the department. Hunter had been forced to tell the Flash to get lost, while being profusely apologetic to Wally the next time he saw him. Wally had begrudgingly understood, but had maintained an antagonistic relationship with Hunter as the Flash, which irritated him to no end.

"_It's just for appearance's sake," _Wally would say with smile, and Hunter would snort derisively every time. Not that he minded. He now knew why Commissioner Gordon valued Batman (if he indeed existed) so much – he could go after criminals that were dirty but had no incriminating evidence held against them. Wally frowned upon Hunter's turning him upon targets in that manner, but sometimes it was necessary. More often that not, however, Wally would catch the aforementioned criminal carrying out some illegal activity, thereby making the point moot, at least in Hunter's eyes. He turned the corner and pulled into the police station car park. He got out of the car and locked it hurriedly, and broke into a brisk jog as he crossed the car park to the entrance.

He nodded a greeting to two uniforms leaving the building, and walked to the reception desk. The secretary, Rachel, looked up and smiled sarcastically.

"Good afternoon, Hunter. You get lost?"

Hunter didn't respond. He wasn't in a smiling mood today. "Any messages?"

"Nope – nothing to pull you away from the station. Guess you'll have to do some work today, huh?"

Hunter resisted a sarcastic smile before heading upstairs, nodding greetings to those he knew as he walked up the stairs. His own laboured breathing became all the more apparent to him as he climbed up the stairs, and he considered the irony of the slowest man in the police force being best friends with the fastest man alive. He didn't laugh, though. In his experience as a police officer, irony was oftentimes more tragic than it was humorous. And besides that, Hunter didn't have much of a sense of humour. He pushed the thought aside as he opened the double doors leading into the main offices. He walked over to his desk and removed his dripping trench coat, draping it over the nearby radiator. The janitor always complained to him about that, but he never paid him any mind.

He sat at his desk, exhaling mightily as he did so. He resisted the urge to pull out a cigarette, and chose to get to work instead. He had been working on a series of murders by a psychopath whose only distinguishing feature was that he/she left a note with the word 'Klann' on it. And so the case and the suspect were dubbed 'Klann'.

He checked the clock and thought about how much time he had before his lunch appointment with Wally. Since Wally _was _the fastest man alive, Hunter had always made it a point to arrive about ten minutes early for any appointment with him. Unfortunately, the time indicated that Hunter had three hours of solid paperwork ahead of him. He walked to the coffee machine and poured himself a cup. Unfortunately, detectives Johnson and Reynolds had also decided to get a cup of coffee at that moment.

"Well, well, look who's decided to grace us with his presence!" Johnson said, spreading his arms out grandly.

"Morning, Johnson."

Reynolds smiled. "'Morning'? Is that all we get? That hurts Hunter." He poked his own chest where his heart would be. "It hurts… right here," he said, melodramatically choking back sobs as he hid his face behind his arm.

Johnson bowed. "Please, sire, tell us where you have been during your time away!"

Hunter resisted the urge to knock their heads together and continued to stare at his slowly filling Styrofoam cup. "Sorry, you'll have to annoy someone else today. I'm not in the mood."

"Ooo, did you hear that, Sam?" Johnson said. Hunter could practically hear the smirk on his face.

Reynolds nodded in mock concern. "I sure did, Ben. It sounds like widdle Hunter's in a bad mood. We'd better not disturb him."

Hunter tried his utmost to show the relief that his coffee cup was finished, and picked it up to go. As he turned to leave with his coffee, Johnson bumped into him, sending the hot liquid down Hunter's front. He couldn't tell if it was an accident or not, but by then, he didn't care. He dropped the cup and twirled around, grabbing Johnson by his jacket and shoving him head first into the coffee machine, letting go as he rebounded slightly, dropping him to the floor. All motion and sound in the office stopped, and all eyes were on Hunter.

"What the hell are you doing?" Reynolds shouted, kneeling next to Johnson as he kept his eyes on Hunter. Hunter looked around at the faces of everyone in the office, the discomfort in their faces not even registering as he looked back down at Johnson, who was slowly gathering himself. Reynolds helped him to his feet, and Johnson shook him off. He walked up close to Hunter so that he was nose to nose with him, and was about to say something when the Captain's door whipped open, slamming against the wall as it did so. They both looked over to see the enraged form of Captain Manning glaring at them.

"Zolomon, Johnson, in my office, NOW!"

They slowly made their way over into the office until they reached the door. Johnson didn't let Hunter go first, and Hunter wasn't about to let Johnson go before him. Manning sat at his desk.

"Do you girls need me to call you parents, or are you going to come in?"

Hunter looked over at Manning, then back to Johnson, and then made a grand gesture with his arm to allow him to go first. They entered the office and sat down.

"What was that about?"

Johnson shot a thumb in Hunter's direction. "Ask this psycho, I didn't do anything."

Manning looked at him, an eyebrow raised. "Is that right?"

Hunter didn't even look up. He simply stared at Manning's desk.

Manning leaned over the desk. "I said, is that right?"

Hunter slowly brought his head up. "No, sir."

Johnson stood. "What? You just shoved me into the coffee machine! I didn't even do anything!"

"Sit down, Johnson."

"But-"

"Sit. Down."

He sat down.

Manning turned his eyes back to Hunter. "Zolomon, I don't want to treat you like a naughty school boy, but you're not leaving me a lot of choice. What. Happened?"

Hunter looked Manning straight in the eyes. "Exactly what Johnson said. I shoved him into the coffee machine. He didn't even do anything. Can I go now?"

Manning stood back and sat down in his chair. "Johnson, you can leave," he said, not taking his eyes from Zolomon's as he did so. He waited for the door to close before he said anything. Hunter crossed his arms, preparing himself for the lecture he had heard too many times before.

"Zolomon… what the hell were you thinking?" He sighed. "You're a good cop, but if you keep this up, you're not going to have a single friend left in the force."

Hunter wondered what Manning's reaction would be if he stood up and told him that he was best friends with the Flash.

"Well, I suppose I'll just have to take that risk, sir."

Manning stared at him. "Well, I'm not. As of right now, I'm putting you on paid vacation. Maybe if you get some time off you can learn to live with other human beings like the rest of us do."

Hunter couldn't believe what he was hearing. He stood and leaned across the table. "You can't take me out now! I'm… _we're _so close to catching Klann I can taste it!"

"You should have thought of that before you decided to take out your anger management issues on Johnson and the coffee machine."

Hunter felt the anger rising in him, the same almost uncontrollable rage that haunted him every day of his life. He took a step back from the table and took a deep breath, clenching and unclenching his fists as he did so. He glared at Manning with eyes full of burning hatred, and quickly whirled around on his heel and left the office, slamming the door shut on the way out.

He ignored the stares of his colleagues as he went to collect his coat. When he saw Johnson sneering at him from his desk, Hunter took a menacing quick step forward, causing Johnson to flinch. Hunter smirked at the show of emotion, and left the room.

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"Geez, Hunter, you look like crap."

Hunter brought his head up from staring at the glass of whisky in front of him to see his old friend Wally West stood before him. He smiled.

"Thanks."

Wally frowned. "Something wrong?"

Hunter took a sip of his whisky and scrunched his face as the liquid left a burning trail down his throat. "It's nothing."

He was about to take another sip when Wally took the glass from his hand. He sniffed the liquid and his head shot back from surprise, a look of revulsion on his face. He put the glass back on the table, out of Hunter's reach.

"Nothing, huh? Is that why you're onto you fifth glass already?"

"Tenth, actually; they cleared the glasses away earlier," Hunter said, a faint smile on his lips at his attempt at humour.

Wally's frown deepened as he sat opposite Hunter. "What happened? You and Ashley have another fight?"

"Kind of hard to fight when you're not talking to each other."

Wally's eyes widened slightly. "You guys have split up?"

"No, she's just gone to stay with a friend of hers for a while."

"She didn't tell you where?"

"No," Hunter said, shaking his head. He regretted having done that, as the whole world seemed to spin sideways around him. He tried to steady himself as Wally's face grew more contorted with concern.

"So… what're you gonna do about it?"

"Right now I'm going to _drink_. Okay?"

Wally's concerned face disappeared, replaced by a stern glare. "As long as you're going to _drink_ coffee, then we're on the same page."

Hunter covered his face with his hand. "Please, Wally, don't try and pull all this righteous crap on me right now. I just want to drink my problems away for today, all right?"

"No. So if-" he was interrupted by the waiter coming to see him. "Two coffees, please. One black," he said, looking at Hunter as he did so. Hunter wanted to strangle him. He appreciated what Wally was doing, and truth be told he would do the same thing if the situation were reversed. In fact, he recalled more than a few times he had comforted a distraught Wally after a relationship with a girl had gone awry. But that still didn't stop Hunter from wanting to kill him. The fact that Wally was spinning while doing the whole 'best friend' thing didn't help.

After the waiter had left, Wally resumed his sentence. "So, if this isn't about Ashley, what is it about? Work?"

Hunter didn't respond, and Wally's face darkened. "Another fight?"

Hunter didn't look at him. In fact, he downright refused to. But Wally didn't need eye contact to read his best friend. Hunter could feel him rolling his eyes and leaning back in his chair, exasperated.

"Jesus, Hunter. Why don't you just march into the Captain's office and say 'fire me'? How many times has it been now? Five? Six?"

Hunter looked at him, and fixed him with a cold, hard stare. "Twelve."

Wally's jaw dropped. "Twelve? You've been pulled in twelve times?"

He shook his head. "No. I've been pulled in seven times," he said, a hint of a smirk dancing across his lips.

Wally looked stunned, but his face quickly changed into one of anger. "This isn't funny, Hunter. You're gonna get yourself fired someday, and then where will you be?"

The coffee arrived, and Hunter turned up his nose and squeezed his eyes shut at the sight and smell of the stuff. Wally pushed the mug towards Hunter.

"Drink up."

Hunter eyed the brown liquid. "Do I have to?"

"Hey, you chug-a-lug the other stuff."

"Yes, well, the other stuff makes me feel better."

"Zolomon. Drink."

Hunter suddenly stood up, knocking his chair over as he did so.

"DON'T YOU D-" Hunter stopped, his brain kicking in as he saw the shocked look on his friends' face, which was a perfect mirror image of everyone else's in the café. He took a breath, attempting to halt the anger boiling inside of him. He looked at Wally. "Don't you dare talk to me like that. Ever," he spat, violently jerking his coat from where it lay on the back of his chair.

"Wait, Hunter-"

Hunter slammed the door before Wally could say anything else. He quickly turned the corner and walked to the nearest bus stop. Hunter found an empty bus shelter and sat down. He leaned back against the cool window and turned his head slightly so he could see the rain drops sliding down the window, meeting and joining, separating and going their separate ways once they reached a certain point in their journey down the plexiglass. Hunter sighed. His temper had always been an issue with him, even going back to when he was a child. Ashley had once calmed that burning anger, but even she found it hard to deal with sometimes, especially recently. And Wally… Hunter had no idea why Wally was such good friends with him. They were complete opposites, Wally being an approachable, good natured guy, while Hunter avoided human contact whenever possible, making it even more of a miracle that he had found Ashley. Again, he had Wally to thank for that.

Hunter thought about the irony of the fact that it was his temper that had started their friendship all those years ago in college. Hunter found a lot of things ironic. He had had that kind of life, as if it were all some big joke by God. Hunter still remembered the dark alleyway, the way those two thugs were going after that woman. It sparked something in Hunter, something primal. He had never attacked a human being like that before. He smashed their faces into the walls, stepped on their necks, broke their fingers. And he loved every minute of it.

Wally had also seen the woman being roughed up by the two men, but by the time he had arrived as Kid Flash, Hunter was standing over two broken men, one unconscious and the other weeping in pain. The woman that Hunter had saved was in a ball, looking at Hunter with wide, terrified eyes. Hunter felt that he should have been disturbed by the look in her eyes. But he loved it. He loved the fear. Later, he had put it down to being caught in the heat of the moment, the adrenaline. But deep down, he knew there was something inside him that enjoyed it. That revelled in it. So he tried to apply it to something constructive. He enrolled with the police force. He had met Wally West a day later, and only in retrospect did he realise why he was so interested in spending time with him.

Thinking of Wally made Hunter wonder why he had become so angry with Wally in the café. Was it is constant pestering? Or was it the fact that he called him Zolomon, like Manning had done hours earlier? Or was it something else? Hunter's entire body tensed at the thought of Manning, the anger once again coursing through his veins. With Ashley's help, he had learned to subdue his violent outbursts, and had even learned breathing techniques to help deal with them. But they weren't so effective anymore. Ashley suggested going to a professional psychiatrist, but Hunter was dead set against it. He didn't want someone poking about in his head, even indirectly.

"_Hunter."_

Hunter whipped his head around, looking for the source of the voice. "Hello?"

"_Don't bother. You can't see me; at least, not yet."_

Hunter stood and walked around the bus shelter, checking for anyone hiding. "Wally, if that's you…"

"_Not Wally. **Certainly **not Wally." _

Hunter sat again, his vision still spinning from the alcohol flowing in his blood. "Who then?"

"_I see you're not close minded. Good."_

"How do you know Wally?"

"_A more suitable question would be, 'How **don't **I know Wally?' You see, I know everything about him, from where he lives to the fact that he's the famous Flash."_

If he were sober, that fact would have shocked Hunter. As it was, he was more mildly interested than anything else. The voice seemed to be inside his head, but Hunter couldn't tell if that was because he was drunk, or… if he was talking to something that the Justice League should handle. Too drunk to panic, he simply continued. "And you're talking to me because…?"

"_Because you can help me. Because I can help you."_

"Help me to do what?"

"_To get vengeance on those who have wronged you. Johnson. Reynolds. Manning. Wally. Ashley…?"_

"Not interested. Go away."

"_You mock now, but just wait… I'll still be here in the morning… and the day after that, and the day after that… I'll wait for as long as I have to until you're ready."_

"Shut up."

Hunter could hear the smile in the other's voice as he spoke. _"You'll see. It's destiny. You will come to me, and then you will have your vengeance on those that have wronged you. Especially Wally and Ashley. Perhaps you'll let me help you kill them, eh? Would you enjoy that?"_

"SHUT UP!" he roared, covering his ears with his fists. He started running from the bus shelter, not caring in what direction he ran, as long as it was away from that devilish voice.

"_Hmmm… a slow runner… How ironic…"_

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(A/N: Well? Fun? Or no? Either way, review!)


	2. Call Him Bart

Disclaimer: The Flash and all other DC stuff not mine.

_**Legacies**_

_**Chapter Two: Call Him Bart**_

Wally shot down the street, being careful to keep his speed low enough so as not to create a gale force wind behind him. The mayor had talked to him about his speeding before, and had finally come up with the resolution that, unless there was an emergency, Wally would keep to the speed limit. Wally's response to this had been _'That's no fun', _but the mayor hadn't been particularly interested in Wally's definition of fun. Of course, Wally being Wally, he wasn't sure how fast he was going at any given time. So he was given a specially made speedometer watch that measured his speed. Unfortunately, Wally had to adhere to the rules of the road as well, which usually meant having to stop at traffic lights, which he thought was supremely stupid.

Not today, though, since Wally was on his way to a rather heated car chase on the other side of town. Wally sped across the junction, prompting several enraged yells and horns to be sounded, which Wally ignored. He had gotten used to ignoring people when they yelled at him, which was probably why he could pull pranks and such so easily; when people shouted at him it didn't really bother him. Wally took a sharp left down an alleyway, leaving a billowing cloud of dust behind him. He heard the sound of sirens, and was greeted by a police car flying by the foot of the alleyway. Wally turned as he left the alley, turning and quickly overtaking the police car, closing in on their quarry; a rather immaculate brown car. Wally didn't know what make the car was; not that he knew anything about cars in the first place. It seemed kind of pointless to become interested in them since he _was _the Fastest Man Alive.

Wally overtook the police car and ran up alongside the pursued, adjusting his speed so that he was running next to the drivers' window. He knocked and waited for a response. The window didn't lower, but the driver had obviously seen him, judging by how the car was now careening towards him, attempting to ram him into the wall. Wally increased his speed and hopped up onto the front of the car, deftly landing on the other side. The car quickly swerved away from the wall, and turned left suddenly to go down another road. Wally followed, catching up to the car and yet again running alongside the drivers' window. Wally brought back his fist and brought it forward, putting his speed behind it, smashing it through the window. He grabbed onto the drivers' collar, and, hoping he wasn't wearing a seatbelt, yanked him out of the seat, throwing him onto the road. Wally opened the door to the car and put his foot on the brake pedals steadily, bringing the car to a slow stop.

He let out a breath he wasn't even aware he was holding, and looked in the cars' mirrors to see the driver attempting to limp away. Wally whizzed after him, coming to a halt directly in front of him, a grin on his face.

"Do you really want to do this, buddy?"

As if in response, the driver pulled out a gun. Wally whipped out his hand, quickly grabbing the gun and tossing it over his shoulder. He promptly landed a fist on the drivers face, and Wally winced as he heard what he was sure was his nose breaking. He turned to see the police arriving on the scene, and he gave them a quick salute and a smile before shooting off again, heading back to his apartment. Wally had been in the middle of a pizza feast when he saw the news report, and hoped it hadn't become too cold in his absence.

Wally tried his best to ignore his stomach's grumbling as he made his way to his apartment building. He scaled the building with ease, landing on the roof. He checked around to see that no one was looking and lifted the grating leading into the ventilation duct, pulling out a bag containing his clothes. He ran to the door leading to the stairs, quickly getting changed as he descended. By the time he reached his floor, he was fully dressed. He entered his apartment and sighed contentedly, smelling the rich aroma of ten pizzas. He walked over to the answering machine, munching on a lukewarm slice of pizza as he pushed the playback button.

"_You have no new messages."_

Wally sighed and resumed eating his pizza. He had been trying for the past week to contact Hunter, but to no avail. No matter when he called, Hunter never picked up, and never responded to his messages. Wally wished that he knew where Ashley was, so he could ask what had happened between them. Wally didn't like his friends being angry with him, especially when he didn't know why. He had played the conversation in his head over and over again, attempting to find out why Hunter snapped at him. It was just the usual banter, so why did he suddenly just…?

Wally shook his head. If something were wrong with Hunter, Wally should have noticed straight away. There was the obvious sign that Hunter was drunk by the time Wally had caught up with him, but Hunter had done that before even when there wasn't anything wrong. The only sign that told Wally that anything was seriously wrong was when he exploded at him, with that look in his eyes. The look in his eyes that Wally had only seen once before, in that alleyway, as Kid Flash. He remembered how frightened he had been. Since he was relatively new to the solo hero thing, Wally had never seen anything that brutal. It certainly wasn't the last time, but the first time is always the one that imprints it on the memory.

Wally considered how strange it was that the one responsible for such brutality had ended up becoming his best friend. Initially, when he had first started talking to Hunter as Wally, it was to keep an eye on him. But gradually, he came to become the best of friends with him. Wally wasn't sure when exactly it happened, but it did. He was such a good friend that Wally had told Hunter that he was the Flash, but that was only after he made the leap from Kid Flash to grown up, adult Flash.

Just as Wally was about to pick up the phone and try again, a rapid knocking came on the door. The knock was familiar, and that was because no one could knock that fast – except for him. Wally made his way to the door, pizza slice in hand, and opened it. Wally looked down to see a wiry boy with equally wiry brown hair staring up at him. Wally raised an eyebrow.

"Uh… can I help you?"

The boy nodded. "Uh huh. I'm here to see you."

"Me?"

Another nod. "Yeah. You're Wally West, aren't you?"

"Yeah, but-"

"Great! Then I'm at the right place! Is that pizza?" he walked in past Wally and straight to the pizza, taking a slice and biting into it. His face changed from one of curiosity to one of disgust. "Bleh, cold. You have anything to wash it down?"

"Hey, I-"

The boy opened the fridge, and pulled out a beer. "Ooo, beer. Haven't tried this yet."

Wally shot over to him, being careful not to give away his super speed, and grabbed the beer from the boy. "Look kid, just who are you?"

The boy looked to the ceiling in thought. "Um… I dunno… uh… it begins with B… uh, Bert… no, that's not it… Brad? No…"

"Come on kid, this isn't funny. Just tell me your name so I can take you back to your parents."

"You can't do that yet; you've gotta fix me."

"Fix you?"

He nodded. "Yeah, at least that's what I remember. Bart! That's it! My name's Bart."

"Bart… right… Bart what?"

"Huh?"

"You have a second name, right?"

"Yeah, it's Al something… like, Alien, or…"

Wally froze. "…Allen?"

"Yeah, that's it! How did you know?"

"Look, kid, just who the… _what_ the hell are you doing here?"

"I told you; you're gonna fix me."

"'Fix you'? What do you mean, 'fix you'?"

"I mean, there's something wrong with me, and only you can fix it."

"Well, what is it?"

"Huh?"

"What's wrong with you?"

He shrugged. "Dunno."

"Look, kid, this is really starting to-" Wally stopped himself, forcing a deep breath before continuing. "Okay. Is there a reason that you can't remember?"

"Yeah. Time travel can do that."

Wally's eyes narrowed to slits. "Time… travel…?"

"Yeah, I used the Cosmic Treadmill."

"The… the _what_?"

Bart looked up at him with questioning eyes. "Wait… shouldn't you know? You built it."

"I… what? Built what? _What the hell are you talking about_?"

"You _are_ the Flash, right?"

Wally ducked his head and instinctively checked around the room. He put a finger to his lips and leaned closer to Bart. "What makes you think I'm the Flash?"

He shrugged. "It's in all the history books."

"History books?"

"Yeah. Where I come from, you're a legend."

"Okay, now we're getting somewhere. Where do you come from?"

"Central City."

Wally grabbed his face in sheer frustration. He paused, and straightened up, crossing his arms. "Okay then… _when _do you come from?"

"I can't remember a specific date, but somewhere around the twenty second century."

"The… twenty second… century," Wally said dumbly, stumbling backwards and falling into a chair by the kitchen table. Bart snapped his fingers, and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a small circular object and handed it to Wally. He took it, staring at it. It looked like a CD, but it was about five times smaller.

"Sorry, I almost forgot about that. That has all the info you need."

"Does it…?" Wally said, his eyes fixed on the disk, his mind busy trying to take in the sudden influx of information, and deciding whether to trust the boy or not.

Bart nodded. "Yeah. I remember my mom saying something about them downgrading it as much as they could… y'know, so it would work with your primitive computers and stuff."

Wally nodded back, only very slowly. "Right… just have a seat for a minute, okay?" He wasn't sure what to make of all this. He stood, and was about to make his way to his room when he heard a swooshing sound. He turned to see Bart sat on the sofa.

"How did you…?"

Bart stared at him blankly before realisation struck. "Oh… yeah, I have super speed."

"Oh. Okay," he said dumbly, not being too bothered by the fact after everything else. He made his way into his room, reaching for his Justice League communicator, and put it in his ear. He pressed the button and began to speak.

"Hey, J'onn?"

There was a long silence where Wally could only hear static before the Martian responded.

"Yes, Flash?"

"I was wondering if I could ask a favour?"

Wally was sure that J'onn sighed, but he could never tell what the Martian was feeling, even when he was face to face with him. "We are very busy right now, Flash. Unless it's something important, it will have to wait."

"Well, it is kind of important. I think. Well, it _could _be important, and-"

"Flash…"

"Yeah?"

Wally heard some sort of alarm in the background.

"Sorry Flash, an emergency. Watchtower out."

And with that, the line went dead. Wally removed the earpiece and put it in the drawer. He mulled over his options. He could go to the police, but he didn't want him blabbing to them about the legendary Wally West and how he was the Flash. And anyway, he didn't want the kid locked up in a loony bin, because, after all, he could be telling the truth. Wally had seen and heard stranger things that were true. So, whoever he went to would have to know that Wally West and the Flash were one and the same, but also not dismiss him outright, thank you very much Martian Manhunter. Wally's eyes lit up as inspiration struck. He dashed back into the living room, and grabbed the phone, doing his best to ignore Bart. He dialled the number, and waited for an answer.

"Hello, Titans Tower, how may I help you?" a cheery voice replied.

Wally smiled. "I'd like to speak to Victor Stone, please."

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Wally walked into the medical room of Titans' Tower, amazed by how much the room hadn't changed since he was here as Kid Flash, with the exception of more advanced medical equipment. He walked to Bart's bed and looked at the readouts on the monitor above the boys head, acting as if he knew what they meant. He looked at Bart.

"How are you feeling, kid?"

Bart shrugged. "I'm okay, I guess. I just wish you'd believe me rather than getting your robot friend to check me out."

Wally felt slightly guilty, and he wasn't sure why. He had never met the kid before, and yet he wanted to talk to him like he was his little brother. While Vic was running his tests, Wally had spent most of his time wandering aimlessly around the Tower, absorbed in his own thoughts, namely the fact that Bart's last name was Allen. That was his Aunt Iris' last name, and he wondered how it was at all possible, even if he _was _from the future, that he could have descended from the Allen line. On top of that, there seemed to be no explanation as to where he got his powers. Did he have the same accident as Wally, just at a younger age? Was he born with them? He was so absorbed in these thoughts, he didn't even notice the awed looks he was getting from some of the younger Titans, which usually would have fuelled his ego for at least six months.

Vic appeared at the window of the medical room, and waved for Wally to join him. Wally nodded to him, and then turned his attention back to Bart. "I'll be back soon, okay?"

Bart gave him a half smile. "Yeah, okay."

Wally left the room and joined Vic. "Well?"

Vic took a deep breath. "You might want to sit down for this. You want to join me for a cup of coffee?"

"Yeah, sure."

They walked to the old common room area and Vic leisurely poured two cups of coffee as Wally sat on the sofa. Wally tapped his foot impatiently. After what seemed an eternity, Vic sat down. Wally gratefully took his cup, and took a sip. He laughed at the sugary taste. "You remembered how many sugars, huh?"

Vic smiled. "Still got your name on the coffee synthesizer."

"So… what's the deal?"

"Well, first of all…" Vic opened a compartment on his body and pulled out the disk that Bart had given to Wally earlier. "This thing is more advanced than even the most cutting edge storage devices. I'll have to analyse it for about a month before I can even figure out how to build some kind of machine capable of reading it."

Wally frowned. "But he said that they degraded it as much as they could so it would work with our computers. Have you tried to use it?"

"On about five different computers."

"And?"

"Boom, every time. Don't worry, man, I'll figure it out, I just need some time."

"Okay, okay. And what about the kid?"

"Well, wherever or whenever he came from, he _does _have super speed. But by comparing his DNA with yours, it looks like he was born with them."

"Born with them? How can that be, unless…?" Wally's eyes widened. "No way," he said, the words coming out as little more than a whisper.

Vic nodded. "Yes way. He's got West blood running through those veins."

"But… how can that be? I haven't… I mean… I don't _think _I have…"

"The West DNA was mixed with other DNA patterns, Wally. It looks like a few generations worth."

"The twenty second century…" Wally said, the words hardly registering as noise. He cleared his throat and spoke at normal volume. "He said that something was wrong with him. Did you find anything?"

Vic nodded slowly and gravely. "Yeah… I did."

"Well?"

"It's… kind of complicated."

"So uncomplicate it."

"I'll try. You see… because you were given your powers, something happened that allowed your body to adapt to the chemicals and increase your metabolism. Well, Bart's body has done the same thing, but as far as I can tell, his metabolism is… messed up, for lack of a better term, since he was born that way. At least, that's what I think… you speedsters are very complicated physically; technically, you shouldn't even work."

Wally nodded slowly. "So, what does a 'messed up' metabolism mean?"

Vic sighed. "It means that he's ageing, and fast."

"How fast?"

"Well, let's put it this way; right now, he's about thirteen. In a months' time, he'll be as old as my dad."

Wally's entire face changed from horrified to confused. "But… I haven't noticed him looking any older."

Vic nodded, a frown wrinkling the half of his face covered with flesh. "I know… it's something I didn't notice until you came to visit him just now."

"What?"

"As soon as you were in close proximity to him, his metabolism slowed down, at least to the point where it was like yours."

Wally looked down in thought as he remembered Bart's words to him. "Fix him… no way. That _couldn't _have been what he meant. Besides, what about all that time he spent in the future? And all that time I was away while you were running the tests?"

"There's some kind of device that's been implanted into his body that slows the ageing process, at least a little bit. Didn't he tell you?"

Wally shook his head. "No. Apparently, time travel on the Cosmic Treadmill messes with your memory."

Vic raised an eyebrow. "Cosmic Treadmill?"

Wally shrugged. "Don't ask me, Bart told me about it. So… what can we do?"

"I have all the scans I need. I'll analyse this," he held up the disk before continuing, "and the scans I got of that device inside him, and you need to stay with him as much as possible. All the time, if you can."

Wally's head dropped in disbelief. "All the time? What about Flash stuff?"

"What about it? He's got super speed, hasn't he? I'm sure you can dig up the old Kid Flash costume. You could use a sidekick," he said, a wry smile on his face.

"Oh, har, har. This is so unfair," he said crossing his arms.

Vic put a heavy hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, man. I'll find a way to help him. In the meantime, he doesn't seem too stressed about the whole thing, so he may not know. He may have just been told that you have to fix him, and not been told how serious it is. Just… try not to panic him."

"Thanks, Ma Cyborg."

Vic pinched his cheek. "You're welcome, sweetness."

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Wally opened the door to his apartment, Bart shooting past him to land on the sofa. He put his feet up and rested his head on his hands, a large grin on his face.

"Man, am I glad to get out of there! I got enough of that stuff in the future."

Wally threw his keys on the kitchen table and took off his jacket. "Enough of what?"

"People prodding and scanning me over and over again. What was that place, anyway?"

"Titans Tower."

"Titans Tower! You're kidding. Please tell me you're kidding. You mean that robot guy was Cyborg?"

Wally opened the fridge and began rummaging for food. He wasn't sure he had enough for one speedster, let alone two. "Why? What's the problem?"

"Are you kidding? The Titans are only like… the best superhero group ever!"

Wally smiled as he brought his head up to peer over the fridge door. "What about the Justice League?"

Bart shrugged. "They're okay. Just a bit… boring, y'know? Just a bunch of old farts saving the world. No offence or anything."

"None taken," Wally said, wondering whether the translucent green goo at the back of the fridge was edible.

"So… can you fix me?"

Wally turned around and dumped the collection of food on the table, and closed the fridge door. He pushed Bart's feet off the sofa, and sat down. "Um, yeah… from what Cyborg told me, it looks like the best way for me to fix you is to spend as much time, uh… together… as possible. Something about my body… uh… fixes you, at least while you're around me. Cyborg's working on something more permanent."

"Okay… but what am I gonna do when you do Flash stuff?"

Wally felt uncomfortable: he didn't want a sidekick. He'd heard Bats and Supes talking about how much trouble young protégés could be, and he vowed to himself that he didn't want any part of it. He sighed. "Yeah, well… just a sec."

Wally ran to his closet, and opened the door. He rummaged through the pile of clothes and shoes piled up on the floor before finding a white box with a fine layer of dust covering it. He blew the dust away, and opened the box. It looked exactly as he remembered. He looked back at Bart and sighed. He couldn't. What if he got hurt? What if Vic found some way to cure him and Wally had managed to get him killed foiling something stupid like a bank robbery? Wally shook his head, and he put the box back, covering it back up under the pile of clothes. He closed the closet door and walked back to the sofa. "I'll just have to be quick when I do Flash stuff."

The two ate in silence, although it lacked any awkwardness, considering that it took them a total of five minutes to finish their meal. Wally shot into his room, and returned a second later with some blankets and a few pillows. In the space of five seconds, he had rearranged the sofa into a makeshift bed. "Voila," he said, smiling as he took a bow. "You should get some sleep. It's been a… weird day. And Grammy Flash always used to say that you need the most sleep after a weird day – that's scientific fact."

Bart smiled and Wally went to the bathroom and came out with a spare toothbrush. He tossed it to Bart, who gave it a strange look. Wally raised an eyebrow, smiling. "You have toothbrushes in the twenty second century, don't you?"

"I've heard of 'em," Bart said defensively, shooting into the bathroom.

"Okay," Wally said, guiding him to the sink, "It's time for the Wally West crash course in dental hygiene. Now just watch me, and copy, okay?"

Bart nodded, and in about ten seconds, Wally had finished. Wally nodded at the boy, and he attempted to copy Wally. Unfortunately, he did it at the same speed as Wally, sending toothpaste flying to every corner of the room. Wally snatched the brush away from him. "Maybe we'll cover that tomorrow morning." He yawned. "I think it's time we hit the hay."

Bart zoomed over the sofa, leaving a trail of clothes in his wake.

"At least they know how to sleep in the twenty second century," Wally mumbled, and turned off the lights. He went to the door to his room and opened it. "G'night, Bart."

"G'night, Wally. And Wally?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

Wally smiled. "Anything for my great great great great… whatever you are." He closed the door and got into bed. He turned off the lamp by his bed, and looked up at the ceiling, thinking about the events of the past day. He smiled.

_I'm gonna be a cool big brother._

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(A/N: Love? Hate? Like? Dislike? Review, dammit!)


	3. Turning Point

Disclaimer: Don't own Flash or any DC things.

_**Legacies**_

_**Chapter Three: Turning Point**_

Hunter Zolomon sat still in his arm chair, gripping his glass of whisky just hard enough so that it wouldn't fall. He felt like he hadn't moved in an age. He hadn't even ventured outside his apartment since his argument with Wally a week ago. He hoped that if he stayed still enough, the strange voice that had been haunting every corner of his mind would become bored with him and leave him alone.

No such luck.

"_Still wallowing in self pity?"_

Hunter closed his eyes and grimaced. "Leave me alone."

"_But if I did that, you'd be left completely alone; is that what you want? To be left to your own thoughts?"_

Hunter put his hands over his ears. "Get out."

"_Do you know how foolish you look? Denying the truth?"_

"I said GET OUT!" Hunter screamed, throwing his glass at the wall, splattering the brown liquid in a large spray across the wall. Hunter sighed and slumped back in his chair, relieved at the silence that followed, silently hoping that the ghostly apparition had finally decided to leave him alone.

"_Now what part of you thought that would actually get rid of me? The part of you that still thinks that you and Ashley can be together? Or the part of you that thinks that you and Wally West are still friends?"_

"The part of me that wants you to _get the hell out_."

The voice laughed a low, sinister chuckle. _"You have such anger in you, Zolomon. Wouldn't it be easier to just let it out? We both know you've kept it in long enough."_

Hunter clenched his fists. "Just… please… get out."

There was silence, and Hunter thought for an instant that he had won, that it was actually leaving.

"_All right, Zolomon. But I'll be back when the time comes. Then you'll let me help you. I can see it. You can see it. And so can Ashley and Wally. They both know that you will eventually seek retribution for what they have done to you. And that scares them; you scare them. And together we'll give them reason to be."_

And with that, it was gone. Hunter sighed in relief and relaxed into his armchair, unsure of what to do next. He had to admit to himself that he was afraid; afraid that the strange entity was right, afraid that he would seek some kind of twisted vengeance on Ashley and Wally, the two people in his life he valued above all else. He considered that he should stay here, do nothing. There was no way he could hurt anyone by doing nothing. But then again, perhaps _not_ doing something could end with Ashley and Wally being hurt. He resolved not to live in fear in his apartment, and picked up the phone. He dialled Wally's number, still in the dark about where Ashley was. He hoped that he and Ashley could still work things out; that the dark creature was wrong.

The phone rang once, and Wally picked up. "Hello?" he sounded unusually perky, and Hunter felt slightly insulted. Of course, Hunter had been ignoring him all week, and he wasn't expected to stay miserable just because his friend wasn't talking to him.

"Hi, Wally."

"Hunter? Man, am I glad to hear from you. You had me worried for a while there."

"I know, and I'm sorry about that. I just needed to work some things out."

Hunter heard a young voice talking in the background, and heard a muffled reply from Wally.

"Wally? Is that a kid's voice?"

"Yeah, and let me tell you man, it's quite a story too."

Wally proceeded to tell Hunter about Bart's arrival, Cyborg's discoveries, and about the Cosmic Treadmill, which Hunter found extremely interesting, though he wasn't sure why. When he was sure Wally had finished, he began to speak again.

"So… what exactly _is _a Cosmic Treadmill?"

"It's uh… I dunno. Hey Bart, what's the Cosmic Treadmill?"

Hunter waited, anxiousness seeping through him, and again, he wasn't entirely sure why. Finally Wally's response came.

"It's something to do with time travel."

"And you can use it?"

"What? No. I didn't even know what it is until Bart told me."

"But the kid said you built it."

"Yeah, but I think I'm _gonna _build it sometime in the future; although how, I have no idea. I mean, I'm not exactly the most technically minded guy in the world."

"Bit of an understatement, don't you think?" Hunter said, allowing himself his first smile in a while.

"Yeah," Wally said, laughing slightly.

"Wally?

"Yeah?"

"Have you spoken to Ashley at all?"

"Uh… she called me a few days ago, yeah," Wally said, some guilt creeping into his voice.

"Well? What'd she say?"

"She said… she said that you scared her the last time you had a fight."

"I… what?"

"She said you get pretty riled up. And not just usual 'Hunter Zolomon' angry, she meant 'that night in the alleyway' angry."

Hunter brought the phone away from his head slightly, staring blankly ahead. "I don't remember…"

Wally sighed. "Well, she sure as hell did," he said, though there was no malice behind the words, more of a tired sympathy.

"Do you know where she is?"

Wally was silent for a moment. "Uh… she, uh…"

"Wally…?"

"She doesn't want you to know Hunter. She still needs some time to-"

Hunter felt the familiar anger rising in him again. "But you know."

"Yes, Hunter, all right? I do. But I can't tell you. As much as I want to, I can't. I'm sorry."

Hunter almost crushed the phone in his hands, and slowly responded. "Don't be Wally. I understand where we stand now." He smashed the phone back down, hanging up on his friend. He laughed bitterly at the term.

"Friend… what kind of friend…" he mumbled to himself, pushing himself out of the chair and heading over to the TV. He turned it on and decided to watch whatever was on. It was a baseball game. Hunter never really had any interest in the game, but right now he needed something to distract him from the angry thoughts and emotions swirling about inside him.

After an hour or so of watching the ball game, Hunter's mood and disposition had not improved. He was about to turn off the TV and go for a walk (which would most likely lead to a bar) when a news bulletin appeared, interrupting a player in mid victory dance.

"_We interrupt this program to bring you an urgent news bulletin. The children of the Central City orphanage have been taken hostage by a man whom the police suspect has been involved in several murders. Police speculate that the suspect could be related to the 'Klann' murders."_

The TV continued to drabble on, but Hunter was already out of the door.

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The car swerved and groaned in protest as Hunter pulled off manoeuvres that weren't beneficial to his the car or to his already delicate stomach. He ignored the protests of both and continued to speed towards the orphanage. As he closed in on the location, he spotted the flashing lights of police sirens and parked his car haphazardly on the pavement. He jumped out of the car and prepared to flash his badge, when he spotted Manning in the crowd. He slowed and turned around, heading back. Manning wasn't likely to let him anywhere near Klann, and he wouldn't be able to bluff his way past the uniforms if they saw him and Manning having an argument. He was still thinking when he heard the familiar sound of a man running at incredible speeds, creating a noise not unlike a dropping bomb. He looked down the street to see a familiar figure in red and stepped into the road, waving his arms.

Wally recognised him and skidded to a halt. He considered his friend sceptically. "Hunter? What're you doing here?"

"I'm here to get Klann."

"Aren't you on vacation from this stuff?"

Hunter gritted his teeth and felt the urge to grab Wally by the collar.

"Listen, Wa… Flash, Klann is _mine_. I've been working on his case for the better part of a year and I am _not _about to let him kill some innocent kids. Now help me get in." He looked at the worried look on his friends face and took a deep breath. "Please, Wally," he added quietly. "I _need _to do this."

Wally considered this, rubbing the back of his neck in thought. He sighed. "Okay. But don't pull anything stupid, all right? I want every one of those kids to live through this. You get me?" He said determinedly, pointing his finger at Hunter to emphasise the point. Hunter was slightly taken aback, having never seen his friend so serious.

"All right," he said, nodding.

Wally took a deep breath. "Okay, just wrap your arms around my neck, and let's get going."

Hunter did so, and Wally sped ahead. Hunter wondered if Manning spotted him clutching to Wally's back as he sped by, and smiled at the thought of walking out of the building in about ten minutes with a beaten Klann. His thoughts were interrupted by the sudden feeling of heading upwards. He tightened his grip as he realised Wally was scaling the wall. As they reached the rooftop, Hunter let go and Wally gasped for air.

"D'you think you could've held on tighter? I don't think I can see enough spots."

Hunter smiled grimly and walked over to the door leading to the stairway. He turned back to Wally, and held his arm out. "After you."

Wally nodded and sped down the steps, trying not to go so fast as to make a noise. He slowed as he realised that the floors on the upper levels were made of wood that creaked loudly, and settled for walking. This allowed Hunter to catch up to him. Wally leaned towards him, keeping his eyes on the corridor. "Is this the right floor?" he whispered, his voice almost inaudible.

Hunter was again surprised by Wally, only now just realising how good his friend was at the superhero business. He was taking everything seriously, with no inappropriate jokes, smiles or winks to downplay how serious the situation was. Of course, Hunter hadn't seen The Flash in action in some time, and it was obvious that Wally had matured in the superhero business in that time. Hunter silently nodded an affirmative, and indicated that he was going to go to the left at the end of the corridor, and that Wally should go right. Wally nodded, and they walked to the end of the corridor, being careful to avoid the fragile looking parts of the wooden floor, for fear that they would creak and tip Klann off.

Hunter walked to his left and began to tip toe up to each room, carefully checking through keyholes before entering. He was about to try another door when he heard a quiet voice coming from further down the corridor. He turned to check that it wasn't Wally, and was not too surprised to find that he couldn't see him anymore. Hunter considered going back to get the Scarlet Speedster, but was then was hit by the same resolve to stop Klann that he used to convince Wally in the first place. He took a quiet deep breath, and headed for the source of the noise. He found the door rather quickly, and looked through the keyhole, being careful to keep his nervous breathing as silent as possible. His vision was mostly obscured, but he did manage to make out the figure of a man stood next to a window. Hunter tried to ascertain whether he was close to any of the children, but found that he couldn't see much.

He swore under his breath and stood, looking up and down the corridor for some way to get at him without Klann seeing him ahead of time. He looked to his right and saw another door. He looked through the keyhole so see an empty room. He opened the door slowly, and found a room full of various stuffed toys and play sets. If not for the clutter, the room would have been completely bare except for the window directly in front of Hunter. He opened it has quietly as he could, sliding the bottom section of the door upwards. He poked his head out of the window discreetly, looking to his left and seeing that Klann had his window open, and that there was a ledge that extended all the way around the building, conveniently placed just below the windows. Hunter lifted himself out and deftly placed his foot on the ledge, testing his weight while trying his utmost not to look down. He hoped that the police below didn't spot him and make a loud fuss, or that if they did see him, that they would recognise him and remain silent. He figured on the latter, seeing as how one of the spotlights shone on him for what seemed like an eternity before leaving him in darkness.

He edged forward, gradually getting closer and closer to the window, praying that Klann wouldn't stick his head out of the window. His prayers were not answered. Klann poked his head out of the window, looking first to his left, then to his right. As he turned his head right, Hunter decided to take the offensive and kicked Klann in the face before the surprise could even register on the murderer's face. He was quickly sent back into the room, and Hunter quickly made his way through the window, grabbing onto the upper section and swinging his legs in. He looked for Klann and found that he had wrapped one arm around a child's neck, stroking the neck with the penknife he held in his right hand. He grinned, either unaware or uncaring about the blood that was streaming from his broken nose.

Hunter took account of the situation and weighed his options as he looked around the room. There were about fifteen or so children squeezed into the room, all of them with equally terrified looks on their faces. They even seemed afraid of him. Hunter looked back at Klann, and realised with satisfaction that his back was to the door. Hunter smiled smugly, which took Klann off guard. The grin faded from his face slightly, and Hunter glanced at the door, indicating that someone was behind him, and that he was just waiting for him to make a move. Klann chanced a quick glance behind him, and that was all Hunter needed. He ran forward and brought his right fist forward to hit Klann in the face.

Klann turned back to face him and turned his head to the right so as only to take a glancing blow from Hunter. Hunter grabbed the wrist which held the knife and twisted it, hard. Klann screamed as the knife clattered to the ground and he grabbed his wrist in pain. The child that he held took advantage of the situation to run into the corner of the room, back to the safety of his fellow hostages. Klann looked up at Hunter through clenched teeth, and Hunter prepared himself, expecting him to rush him. Klann suddenly reached behind his back and pulled out another penknife with his left hand, thrusting it at Hunter's belly. Hunter darted back and found his back to the window.

Klann lifted the knife and, holding it upside down, brought it down so as to stab Hunter. They leaned back through the open window, and Hunter tried not to think about the drop below him as he held Klann's wrist, desperately trying to redirect the blade. The blade missed its intended target, but ended up sinking with a squelch into Hunter's left shoulder. Hunter screamed in pain and clenched his teeth. He placed a foot on Klann's stomach and pushed him away, causing him to stumble back. Unfortunately, Klann managed to take the knife with him, causing Hunter even more pain as a brief spurt of blood stained the floor.

Klann grinned and brought the knife to his face, licking the fresh blood from the blade as he chuckled to himself. Hunter looked at his insanity-infected face, then at the horrified looks on the children's faces; and Hunter felt rage. The same rage that he had felt all those years ago in that alleyway. He roared and charged at Klann, hoping to do to him what he had done to those two men in the alleyway that night. However, on that night, he had had the element of surprise. Klann sidestepped, and brought his knife down, piercing Hunter's lower back with a sickening crunch, and Hunter screamed, falling to the floor on his front. His nerves on fire, he didn't even feel Klann pull the knife out of his back. Hunter felt himself blacking out, but not before the door to the room sprang open, and a red blur shot through, slamming Klann into the wall.

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Hunter tried his best to ignore the beeping of the machine monitoring his vitals. He had been listening to that same beeping for almost a day. Or at least, he thought it was a day. Time stretched impossibly here. He desperately wanted to get up, to move, to walk to the window, anything to take his mind off the monotonous beeping. He felt as though he was about to scream in rage when the door to the hospital room opened and Wally West stepped through, a look of indescribable guilt and shame on his face. He hadn't been to visit in his civilian identity, and Hunter was already feeling anger at him for that alone. He made his way to the bed and sat down on the chair next to it.

"What happened to Klann?" Hunter asked, avoiding eye contact with Wally.

"In a cell as we speak. You got him, Hunter." He paused and took a deep breath. He looked out the window, then back at Hunter. "How are you feeling?" he asked, his voice respectfully hushed.

Hunter looked at his friend disdainfully. "I've just been told that I'll never walk again. How would _you _feel?"

Wally didn't respond, he simply looked down at the floor, his eyes closed in shame. "Hunter… I'm sorry. I should have gotten there sooner, but I didn't hear anything until you…" he trailed off, obviously not wanting to add insult to injury by saying that Hunter's scream was audible at the other end of the building. Hunter didn't want his apologies, and was about to say so when a thought occurred to him.

"It doesn't matter Wally. Because you can fix this."

Wally looked up at him. "I can?"

"Yes. Just use that Cosmic Treadmill you were talking to me about and-"

"I don't _have _a Cosmic Treadmill, Hunter. I wish to God I did, but I don't."

"Or maybe you just don't want to help me."

Wally's eyes widened. "What? How can you say that?" he said, his hushed tone quickly disappearing.

"Look me in the eyes and tell me. If you _did _have a Cosmic Treadmill, would you go back and fix it so that this never happened?"

Wally's was about to answer, then stopped himself. He looked into Hunter's eyes, and he saw the shame in them. Hunter nodded.

"That's all I needed to know."

"Hunter, you don't understand; you can't. I've been through this time travel stuff; you don't know how badly you can-"

"Just leave me alone, Wally."

"But-"

"GET OUT!"

Wally's face fell and he slowly rose. He walked to the door and turned back to Hunter before he left. "I'm sorry, Hunter." And then he was gone.

Hunter couldn't care less. He felt nothing but anger and hatred. He felt a presence seeping into the room, into his mind.

"_And that's your best friend?"_

"Shut up."

"_I can help you. You know I can, so why are you still resisting me?"_

"How can you possibly help me?"

"_I can help you to walk again."_

Hunter froze. "What?"

"_You heard."_

"How?"

"_You'll see. But if you want to walk again, you'll have to give into me. You'll have to give in to your anger. Just… let it out."_

Hunter's internal struggle contorted his face. "I… no. That's too steep a price."

"_Is it? Who do you owe it to now to stay in control? The wife who won't speak to you? Or perhaps the best friend who won't help you?_

Hunter remained silent as he realised that it was right. He owed nothing to Wally or his wife, even though he still loved her. "All right. What do I do?"

"_Go to the roof."_

Hunter struggled out of his bed and slinked into the wheelchair that had been provided for him. He made his way out of the room and headed for the elevator, being careful to avoid any 'helpful' hospital staff that would send him back to his room. Fortunately, the elevator was almost opposite his room. Once inside, he pushed the button for the roof, and waited impatiently. He wanted to tap his foot as he waited, which only spurred on his anger even more. The doors opened, and he pushed himself out into the downpour. He looked up to see the uncontrolled lightning dancing across the dark, cloudy sky. If not clouded by so much anger, Hunter would have thought how strange it was, considering that the sky was clear when he left his room. As it was, he found it difficult to care.

"All right, I'm here. What do I do?"

No response.

"Where are you?"

Still no response.

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?" he screamed to the sky, holding his arms out to welcome whatever was coming. As if in answer, a lightning bolt shot down from the sky, enveloping Hunter in pure energy. His wheelchair exploded beneath him, but he didn't fall to the ground. He simply floated, kept aloft by whatever energy had caused the lightning bolt to seek him out in the first place. He felt the voice in his head once more, except this time, he allowed it to become one with his own.

His thoughts drifted back to a conversation he had once had with Wally about his battle with Lex Luthor, about how he had created a Justice Lord Flash to fight him that had preyed on his fears and neuroses; about how it had worn a costume like his, but the colours reversed.

A Reverse Flash.

He thought about how much he hated Wally for not helping him, for being a false friend from the start. For simply _being_.

"_He must face his ultimate opposite. A man who has lost his pride, confidence and identity to tragedy. A man who will run with him down a hellish road—and feel no guilt in bringing him there."_

Hunter Zolomon was dead. Only Zoom remained.

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(A/N: Zoom well? Zoom badly? Review!)


	4. First Contact

Disclaimer: Flash and all other DC stuff isn't mine

_**Legacies**_

**_Chapter Four: First Contact_**

As they walked into the park, Wally couldn't help but marvel at how much the simple things amazed Bart. As soon as he'd seen a child flying a kite, he had bombarded Wally with questions as to what it was and what it did. Wally wondered what apocalyptic event could have resulted in all knowledge of kites being removed from the minds of the general public. It then occurred to Wally that perhaps Bart just wasn't the kind of person that goes outside a lot, but Wally found that assumption hard to believe. Wally absolutely detested being inside all the time – an obvious side effect of his speed. And since Bart was born that way, Wally thought that he would be even worse. But, much to his surprise, he was remarkably calm. That was, calm for Bart. Wally had to constantly tell him to mind his speed, and to not get too far ahead.

Bart had looked at him with a smirk on his face.

"Thanks, Mom," he had said, the tone of his voice reminding Wally of how he spoke to John Stewart when he was being scolded by him for some immature prank he had pulled. Of course, John would only scold him if the prank was on _him_, but if it was on, say, Batman… that was a different story. Sometimes he would even help, but in a subtle way, so that he would get none of the blame. Wally smiled at Bart's response, his happy demeanour betraying none of the fear that Wally felt on Bart's behalf. He had toyed with the idea of telling him what was wrong with him, but Vic's advice about trying not to panic him kept on ringing in his ears. Another side of Wally's mind protested, asking the question that Wally had kept on pushing aside.

_If it was you, would you want to know?_

Of course, Bart _wasn't _him, but he was so similar even Wally couldn't deny that if they were the same age they would be able to pass as brothers, or even twins, if the hair was ignored. Wally's smile faded as Bart darted to a hot dog stand. Wally was dangerously low on money since Bart and his appetite arrived on his doorstep. Bart looked over at Wally and smiled.

"Hot dog?"

Wally sighed and leaned over to whisper in Bart's ear. "Just one, okay?" he said, doing his best not to sound like some crotchety old guy.

Bart's face fell slightly. "How come?"

"Because _I'm _not in costume and people will start wondering where I put it all."

"Hey, I only asked if _I_ could have a hot dog, I didn't say anything about _you_."

Wally smiled. "Yeah, but if you have some hot dogs, I'll be forced to have some. It's a Flash rule."

Bart shrugged. "Yeah, okay. But we can get some takeaway when we get back, right?"

"Right," Wally said, nodding.

After buying one hot dog each, they walked over to a park bench and sat down. They both finished their hot dogs frustratingly quick, the taste barely registering. Wally tried to hide his annoyed frown. Bart looked over at him.

"Hey, Wally?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you got a girlfriend?"

"Uh… why?"

Bart shrugged. "I just have this feeling that you should by now."

"What, is that written in one of your history books or something?"

"Could be. I dunno. It's just a feeling."

"And would this feeling have a name?" Wally asked, leaning closer in interest.

"It begins with L… Lois, or something."

"Lois? Are you sure you're not thinking about Superman?"

Bart pondered for a moment, casting his eyes skyward in thought. "Actually, it might be… but it's definitely an 'L' name for you as well."

Wally smiled, and Bart raised an eyebrow. "Well? Do you have a girlfriend?"

Wally scratched his cheek. "Well, it's not exactly… I mean it's kinda…"

"Does she live in Central City?"

"Should she?"

Bart shrugged, relaxing back into the bench. "Dunno. I was just wondering if I could meet her."

"She's out of town at the moment."

"So she _does _live here?"

Wally remained silent and just smiled at Bart, before standing and stretching. "Come on."

Bart brought his legs up and threw himself up off the bench, stretching in the same way Wally had just done, though Wally couldn't tell if it was a conscious imitation or not. They began walking out of the park.

"Where're we going?"

"To visit someone."

"Your cop friend? The one who was stabbed?"

Wally winced at the thought, and his face fell into sadness at the memory of the look of unbridled anger that Hunter had given him. He hoped that they could reconcile their differences, because he truly did value their friendship, and would do anything to stop that friendship from slipping away. He didn't look at Bart, but simply stared straight ahead.

"Yeah, that's him," he breathed, not sure if Bart heard him or not. Either way, Bart let the subject drop and walked alongside him in silence, settling for simply looking at the scenery. The journey to the hospital would have been relatively quick for any normal person, but for Wally it was agonisingly slow. He ached to remove his civilian clothes for his Flash costume and run all of these emotions out of his system, the wind washing through him, cleansing his mind as he simply ran wherever his legs took him. Wally had found himself doing that more and more recently, especially since the incident with Luthor and Brainiac. Just running for running's sake. They walked through the doors and walked to the reception. The receptionist finished whatever work she was doing on the computer and walked over to him, a professional smile on her face.

"Can I help you?"

"I'm here to visit Hunter Zolomon; he's a friend of mine."

The receptionist's face became one of shock and then sadness. "Wait here, please," she said, before quickly shuffling over to the phone and dialling a number with some urgency. Wally turned to look at Bart and was surprised instantly by the look of horror on his face. He frowned in concern.

"What's up?"

"Who… are you… here to visit?"

"I already told you; the guy who… got stabbed," Wally said quietly, not wanting to talk about it as if it was nothing.

Bart shook his head. "No. What's his name? Please Wally; it's important."

Wally paused before answering. "Hunter Zolomon." Bart's eyes widened.

"Wally, listen; we have to go right _now_. Forget about him, we have to go."

"What? Why?"

"Because-"

"Wally West?" a low voice interrupted the conversation, and Wally turned to see a police officer stood next to him.

"Uh… yes?"

"Would you mind coming upstairs with me?"

"Uh… sure."

The policeman led the way, and Wally and Bart followed, stepping into the elevator. The cop pushed the button for the roof. Wally was still being given chills by the look of horror that had made itself at home on Bart's face. He would have to ask him about it when they got home. Wally turned towards the cop.

"Is there a problem?"

The cop sighed. "There's been an… incident with Zolomon."

"An 'incident'? What'd' you mean, an 'incident'? What kind of 'incident'?"

As if in answer, the elevator doors opened and Wally saw the charred remains of a wheelchair in front of him, a police line erected around it. There was a police photographer talking with the cop in charge. Wally recognised him as Sam Reynolds, the source of many angry complaints from Hunter. The cop who had escorted them signalled to him.

"Hey Reynolds. Got a friend of Hunter's here."

He nodded and said something quickly to the photographer, who nodded and got back to work. Reynolds walked over and nodded at the other cop, who left to do whatever it was that he was doing. He turned his attention to Wally.

"You Wally West?"

Wally nodded, his attention glued to the wrecked pile of metal and leather laid out before him. "What happened?"

Reynolds shrugged. "We're still trying to figure that out. One of the nurses found that he wasn't in his bed in the middle of the night. There was a pretty long search before they thought to look on the roof. And then… they found that," he said, pointing to the blackened mess.

"What about Hunter? Is he… I mean, have you found anything?"

"Nothing."

Wally remained silent and walked as close to the scorched remains as the police line would allow, crouching on one knee as he inspected it as best he could. He felt a hand on his shoulder.

"There's nothing else you can do here. Go home, get some rest."

Wally looked up at Reynolds then back at the destroyed wheelchair. He nodded and stood. He and Bart walked over to the open elevator doors. Before stepping inside, he turned back towards Reynolds. "Thanks."

Reynolds took a deep breath, looking extremely troubled. "No problem."

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Wally and Bart walked out of the hospital, and Bart turned to look at him. "Look, Wally, I've really got to tell you something about Hunter. He-"

"Bart, I want you to go back to my apartment as fast as you can and stay there. I'm gonna look into this."

"But Wally-"

Wally knelt in front of Bart and put both hands on his shoulders. "Bart, please. I _need_ to look into this; Hunter's my best friend. He might need my help. And I need to be The Flash to do that. Okay?"

Before Bart could respond, Wally had checked quickly for anyone looking and sped away. He shot down an alleyway and quickly got changed, leaving his clothes haphazardly behind a trash can. Usually he was much more careful about where he left his civilian clothes when he changed, but that was the last thing on his mind as he pulled on the hood of his Flash costume and sped away. He headed straight for Central City prison. As he reached the front gate, he realised that something was wrong, judging from the ambulance parked outside the front entrance. Wally realised that someone was being loaded into it.

In a body bag.

He ran up and over the gate and to the parked ambulance. The warden spotted him and walked over to him. Wally gestured to the bag.

"Who-"

"Klann."

Wally's eyes widened underneath his mask and he looked back at the bag before turning back to the warden. "But how did he… A hidden knife or something?"

The warden nodded. "That would make things a lot simpler, but no. Somehow someone got into his cell, killed him, and left with nary a peep. We only just found out this morning."

"How was he…?"

The warden took a deep breath. "We don't know. There are some strange markings all over his body; like it's been warped and stretched out of shape. Damndest thing I've ever seen."

Wally nodded and looked back once more at the body bag before gulping. He turned back to the warden. "Any suspects?"

"Anyone who can do this… I would think they would be more in your area of expertise than mine."

Wally nodded gravely. "Well… I'll see what I can turn up."

"I just hope you can, because there's pretty much nothing we can do against something like this."

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As Wally sped back to his apartment, he pondered the strange sequence of events that were unfolding recently. He had gone to the prison in hopes of finding that Klann had escaped and had gone after Hunter, perhaps kidnapping him out of revenge, but that wouldn't have explained why Hunter's wheelchair was on the roof, or why it was burned beyond all recognition. Klann's death was yet another mystery to Wally. He had never come across anyone who could do that to his enemies.

_What had the warden said? 'Warped and stretched'?_

Wally wondered who or what could do that, and considered calling Batman for some assistance in looking into it. Mysteries were more his area than Wally's; he was the World's Greatest Detective, after all. He came to his apartment building and scaled the wall effortlessly. He made his way swiftly to his apartment, being careful to dodge around windows and corridors that were occupied. He opened the door to his apartment and almost fainted in shock.

The whole apartment was a wreck. The sofa was torn to shreds, there were dents in the walls, and the TV had been somehow ripped in half and lay on separate sides of the room.

"Bart?" Wally called, closing the door behind him as he walked around the room. He checked the bathroom and winced at the shattered glass and tiles scattered around the room. He checked his own room and saw little signs of struggle. He looked at the closet and his heart skipped a beat. The secret compartment for his Flash costumes was open. And one of the costumes was missing. Wally paced around the apartment, massaging his temples as he went.

"Okay, okay, calm down Wally, I'm sure he's okay…"

Wally cursed his own stupidity. If he had given Bart the Kid Flash costume in the first place, he would have been out with him. Wally banished the thought from his mind and shot out his apartment, slamming the door quickly behind him as he went. He ran to the roof and down the side of the building, the only thought occupying his mind being Bart's safety. He didn't even know how long ago the attack in the apartment took place, or where he was going start looking for him, but he _would _find him. He reached street level and shot down the road.

"_West…"_

The voice crackled in his ear and Wally turned his head to his right in time to see a yellow blur, which collided with his jaw, hard. Wally lost his balance and fell, his momentum causing him to bounce along the road. He turned the painful bouncing into a roll, pushing himself up off the road with his hand and slowly sliding to a halt, a small trail of dust behind him. He pushed himself up onto his feet and turned around to look down the road. Stood in almost a mirror image of his stance was the same Justice Lord Flash that Wally had fought when the League battled Luthor and Brainiac. Except for the reversed colours, it was Wally's costume. Before Wally could banish the confusion and shock from his mind and decide on what to do, the yellow Flash had already shot to Wally's left and rammed into him with force only a speedster could create, sending him into a parked car on Wally's right.

The car crumpled slightly on the impact, knocking the wind out of Wally. He looked up in time to see the yellow Flash coming in for another strike, this time his fist brought back to punch a hole in Wally's head. Wally darted to his left quickly, his opponent's fist crashing through the side of the already crumpled car, his arm becoming momentarily stuck inside. Wally took advantage of the momentary lapse and grabbed the yellow Flash's red boots, pulling him as hard and fast as he could. With his opponent off balance, Wally began to spin with all the speed he could muster, his feet thundering on the ground as they struggled to keep up with the speed being demanded of them. A small miniature cyclone started to form around the spinning Flashes, the air slowly being pulled from Wally's lungs. He waited for as long as he dared before letting go of his enemy, sending him careening across the street and through the wall of the building opposite, the bricks collapsing in on the yellow Flash.

Wally fell to his knees and attempted to catch his breath. Between the wind being knocked out of him and his cyclone sucking all the remaining air from his lungs, Wally was struggling to remove the spots from his eyes, blinking furiously in an attempt to make them go away. He cautiously stood and put his hand on the crumpled car behind him to steady himself. He heard the faint noise of brick clinking against brick coming from the hole in the wall across the street from him. Wally strained to see the yellow Flash, and his eyes widened in surprise as a brick with superspeed force behind it shot towards him. Wally ducked the chunk and heard it collide with the building behind him. Wally was then bombarded by chunks of brick and cement, managing to avoid most of them before he was clipped in the left shoulder by a particularly large piece of rock. He faltered slightly, receiving another brick in his right thigh for his hesitation.

Wally shot diagonally to the left side of the building in which the yellow Flash was hidden. He brought back his fist, intending to use it as a jackhammer to smash through the wall and surprise the yellow Flash. To his own surprise, the yellow Flash seemed to blur _through_ the wall, his fist quickly colliding with Wally's jaw and sending him into the wall behind him. Before he could even fall to the floor, his opponent's hand was around his neck, pinning him to the wall. Wally grabbed the arm with both hands, struggling to remove the arm that was steadily choking him. The yellow Flash grinned, and Wally gritted his teeth.

"Who are you?" he managed, his voice struggling to find a way around the yellow hand clamped around Wally's throat. The yellow Flash leaned close to Wally's ear and spoke.

"If you want your boy, then follow me."

Wally's eyes widened and the yellow Flash suddenly let go of him, letting Wally collapse, gasping for air. He looked up hatefully at the yellow Flash, who simply gave him a mock salute and sped away. Wally wiped the blood trickling from his mouth with his arm and ran after him, ignoring the pain in his shoulder and thigh, his only thoughts on bringing Bart home safely.

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Wally had followed the yellow Flash halfway across town before he had decided to stop at a construction site, the builders there quickly evacuating the area, but staying close enough to see the titanic battle that they assumed was about to unfold. Wally saw a yellow blur ascend the skeleton of the skyscraper, and Wally gave chase. His opponent stopped on the top of the building and Wally saw an unconscious Bart hanging by his feet from a rope that was tied to a girder. He stopped, landing a few floors below the yellow Flash, and looked up at his enemy.

"Let him go!"

He shrugged and walked over to the rope, untying it in a split second. He waved as Bart began to fall.

"No!" Wally yelled, putting as much speed as he could into reaching the ground before Bart. Once there, he looked up to see Bart still falling. Wally extended his arms upward and used them both as miniature cyclones to slow Bart's fall, eventually landing in Wally's arms. Wally smiled in relief and Bart looked back at him, having regained some semblance of consciousness. Although still groggy, Bart's face still had that same fear that it had had before when Wally had mentioned Hunter's name. Bart was looking up at where the yellow Flash was, and Wally followed his gaze to find that he had disappeared. Wally quickly looked around, preparing himself for an attack, when Bart groaned in protest at his sudden movements. Wally looked down at him, concern knotting his features.

"Are you okay? Did he hurt you? Did he say anything?"

Bart shook his head and began to murmur something. Wally couldn't tell what he was saying, and so leaned closer to hear.

"He said… that he could find you… no matter where you went…"

Wally considered this and was slowly looking up in thought when Bart started to say something else.

"I told you… to forget…"

"Forget? Forget what?"

Bart scrunched up his face. "Forget about…"

Wally leaned closer.

"…Hunter Zolomon."

Wally's eyes widened and he looked back at where the yellow Flash had been. He looked back down at the semi-conscious boy in his arms. "That guy… was Hunter?"

Bart shook his head. "Not… anymore. Now he's…" he said, fading quickly back into unconsciousness.

"Now he's… Zoom…" he murmured groggily, his eyes closing. Wally checked his pulse and breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the steady rise and fall of Bart's breathing chest. Bart needed medical attention, but Wally couldn't take him to the hospital. Wally set Bart down gently on the floor and put two fingers to his ear to call the Watchtower, but was greeted by a crackling noise. He slipped his hand beneath his cowl to pull out the earpiece, and found that it had been completely wrecked; most likely in his fight with... the man Bart had called Zoom. Wally didn't want to think of him as Hunter just yet. He wasn't ready to accept that his friend would try to kill him and a teenage boy. He didn't accept that it was in him. Maybe Zoom had kidnapped Hunter, and had just told Bart that he was Hunter so that Wally wouldn't fight him at full strength for fear of hurting his friend. It was unlikely to be true, but Wally clung to the possibility with all his heart and soul.

Wally knelt and scooped the boy up in his arms, and began running towards Jump City. If anyone could help Bart, Vic could.

He only hoped that Zoom wasn't following.

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(A/N: Good? Bad? Just review, 'kay?)


	5. Hunter and Prey

Disclaimer: All DC stuff? Not mine.

_**Legacies**_

_**Chapter Five: Hunter and Prey**_

Vic stared intently at the monitor in front of him, tapping at various keys littered around the control panel below it. Not that Wally would notice; he was staring through the glass into the specially jury-rigged room that Vic had cooked up for Bart. Wally was just thankful that the Titans were away on separate missions; the only two in the tower were Vic and Robin. He didn't want any more attention than necessary. He heard Vic sigh and turned towards him.

"Everything okay?"

Vic nodded. "Yeah – the injuries weren't that bad. And the room seems to be doing its job," he said, gesturing to the room with his thumb.

"How does it work?"

Vic sighed again. "It'd be a bit too complicated to explain, but… it's slowed down his ageing process."

"How much?"

"There's no way to know for sure… but if he stays in that room, he should survive for another two years. That'll give me plenty of time to decipher the data on that disc and find out how you're supposed to…"

"Fix him," Wally finished, looking back through the glass mournfully. Vic placed a heavy hand on his shoulder.

"He'll be okay, man. He'll be even better if you're here when he wakes up."

Wally shook his head, turning and pacing the room. "I can't. I've gotta get out of here."

"Why, man? What happened? Who did this to him?" He paused for a moment, waiting for Wally to respond. "Talk to me."

Wally rubbed the back of his neck. "It would take too long to explain," he said, then looked at the irritated and concerned look on Vic's face. He sighed. "… there's someone out there as fast as me. He's wearing a different version of my costume, and he knows who I am. That's how he got to Bart; it's probably how he got the costume too."

Vic was silent for a moment. "Oh," he said, remaining expressionless for a moment before breaking into a half smile, "is that all?"

Wally couldn't help but laugh despite his situation. Vic walked over to a control panel and began pushing buttons. He looked over at Wally, a confident smirk on his face. "No problem, man. I'll call the other Titans together, and we can-"

"No!" Wally said suddenly, speeding over to Vic and putting a hand on his, stopping the rapid button pushing. Vic looked up at him, an objection ready, but he remained silent. Wally sighed heavily. "Look, I just don't want anyone else getting hurt. You don't know what this guy can do. Hell, _I _don't even know. He's doing all this… stuff with his powers I've always been too afraid to try. If any of the guys got hurt… or worse, what if one of those kids you're training goes up against him? I…" he paused, looking into his friends eyes, "… I can't let that happen."

Vic pushed a few buttons on the control panel, shutting it down. "All right, man. But if-"

He was cut off by the alarm, the flashing red lights reflecting on Vic's synthetic eye. Vic pushed some buttons on his mechanical arm, bringing up the communications device. The face of Robin appeared on the screen. "Robin, what's goin' on?"

Wally peered over to look at the Boy Wonder that he hadn't had the opportunity to meet, slightly interested in how he compared to Dick, although his main concern remained the source of the alarms. Robin looked at Vic, ignoring Wally's face leaning over next to him. "Proximity alarm; something's coming at us _very _fast," he said, pushing unseen buttons all over the computer in front of him. Vic nodded.

"All right; stay inside, me and Flash'll take care of it. I want you down here to look after our patient."

Robin nodded. "Gotcha," he said, before pushing a button to cut the communication. His image winked out, and Vic looked up at Wally. Or at least, where Wally _had_ been. Vic growled and ran out of the room, intent on helping his friend whether he liked it or not.

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Wally shot out of the double doors at the base of the tower and looked in every direction he could without breaking his neck. He saw no sign of Zoom and growled in frustration. He cautiously crept out further into the open, looking everywhere he could, desperately trying to fight the fear that was building inside him, trying his utmost to keep his mind on the task at hand. He hoped that Vic wasn't going to try and help him. He couldn't handle being responsible for his death; or anyone else's, for that matter. He felt bad enough about what happened to Klann, and he was a mass murderer. If one of his friends died because of him…

The thought was knocked out of Wally's head as he heard something coming towards him. He saw Zoom barrelling right at him, and he readied himself, deciding to remain on the defensive. An instant before the point of contact, Zoom extended his arm and slammed it into Wally's neck in a vicious clothesline. Wally flew back and saw the ground coming up to meet him. Wally turned in mid air and converted his fall into a roll, landing on the ground and flipping himself up in an instant. He looked up in time to see Zoom coming at him again.

_To hell with being on the defensive._

Wally gritted his teeth and shot forward, turning his run into a forward roll, taking him through Zoom's legs and out the other side. Wally skidded and turned, pursuing Zoom. Zoom attempted to come to a halt and turn around, but Wally was already behind him. He threw his fist forward and felt the satisfying crunch as his fist connected with Zoom's chin. Zoom flew backwards through the double doors of the tower, smashing through the glass and skidding across the floor. Wally stood at the entrance, his hands on his hips, the usual Flash grin on his lips.

Zoom growled and gritted his teeth, shooting towards Wally, his fist drawn back. Wally saw the blow coming and ducked to his left. Zoom quickly adapted and grabbed Wally's leg, performing the same trick that Wally had used on him hours before. Wally felt the air being sucked from his lungs once again, although being spun by his leg made the experience all the more unpleasant. Zoom let him go, sending him flying into the water. Wally could do nothing as he felt himself sinking beneath the water at incredible speeds. He gradually slowed and took stock of how deep underwater he was, and how far away from the Tower he had been thrown. He began swimming, and only hoped that Zoom would wait for him to get back on land.

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Hunter stepped out of the tower, ignoring the crunching of the glass beneath his feet. He looked at the huge wave that had been caused by his high speed throw and smiled slightly. He prepared himself to go in after him when a blue column of energy descended from above him, exploding in front of him and sending him flying back into the tower.

"BOOYA!"

Hunter heard a distinct thud in front of him as the Titan known as Cyborg landed in front of him, standing in the entrance with his sonic cannon aimed at him.

"Now what makes ya'll think you can kill him? You haven't even gotten through me yet!" he said in the tiresome tone of voice that Hunter had come to associate with Wally's pathetic wisecracks.

Hunter stood and found that there was blood coming from his nose, and realised that the explosion must have done it. Hunter wiped the blood away with his arm and looked at Cyborg, who hadn't moved. Hunter grinned.

"Small threat," he said, and shot towards Cyborg. His eyes widened and he fired, Hunter dodging the blasts every time until he was directly in front of Cyborg. He rammed both fists into the metallic man's chest, sending him stumbling back, sparks flying from his damaged systems. Taking advantage of his being off balance, Hunter brought his arm back and began vibrating it at high speeds. He pushed the blurring hand into Cyborg's sonic cannon, causing it to fall apart, the metal creaking in protest. Cyborg pushed Hunter away with his remaining hand and leapt away from him, nursing the stump where his arm had been.

Hunter ran towards Cyborg and he tried to land a fist on the speedster's head, but he was too slow to be any kind of threat. Hunter ducked the blow easily and swept an arm through Cyborg's legs with superspeed enhanced strength, causing the first leg to shatter and the other to fall from beneath the robotic Titan, sending him onto his back. Hunter stood over his fallen enemy.

"And so you don't interfere again…"

He brought his hand back, vibrating it at the speed that would cause the maximum amount of damage to the brain, and brought his head down on Cyborg's head. Before he could even get close, a red blur slammed into him, sending him flying into the side of the tower, causing an indentation in the wall with a loud crash. Hunter felt slightly dizzy after the sudden blow, and attempted to steady himself, his hatred for Wally West lending speed to his recovery.

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Wally stood over his mangled friend. "Vic?"

"I hope you enjoyed your swim," he said, letting out a grunt of pain as he did so.

"Will you be…?"

Vic nodded, though Wally wasn't sure how he managed it. "Yeah, I'll be fine."

Wally nodded and looked up at the quickly recovering Zoom. "I've gotta lead him away from here; I don't want to put you guys in any more danger," he said, standing and cupping his hands around his mouth.

"Hey Zoom!" he yelled. "Betcha can't catch me!" And with that, he sped away. Zoom pushed himself to his feet and silently followed.

Vic sighed and lifted his remaining arm. He pushed a button with his nose and saw Robin's face appear on the screen.

"You might want to get down here and help me out."

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Wally had been gradually leading Zoom back to Central City over the ocean, and smiled when he saw the city on the horizon. It was night; it had taken the better part of the day to get to Jump City and back again. Wally checked behind him to see if Zoom was still following, and was surprised and more than slightly fearful to find that Zoom was catching up to him. Wally had hoped that they were evenly matched, but it seemed that Zoom was slightly faster than he was. Wally wished with all his heart that the Justice League were here to help him, but a part of his mind doubted whether any of them _could_ actually help him. As fast as Zoom was, Wally seemed to be the only one with even a ghost of a chance of beating him. Wally remembered how, in the space of thirty seconds, Zoom managed to dismantle Vic, who was no pushover by any means.

Wally's thoughts were interrupted by the sensation of solid ground beneath his feet. Wally temporarily lost his footing, and that was all that Zoom needed to catch up. He jumped and landed a kick to Wally's shin, tripping him and sending him skidding to the ground. Wally used his arms to push himself off the ground in mid-skid, landing on his feet to find that he was in Central City Park. He looked over and saw Zoom stood next to the bench that he and Bart had sat on and eaten hot dogs just a few hours before. His arms were crossed and a sick grin was wrinkled across his face.

"Not used to being the slow one, West?"

Wally stood, preparing himself for another attack. "Who are you?"

Zoom tilted his head. "Don't you know?" he asked, the smirk on his face growing. "I told your boy before I beat him senseless."

Wally clenched his teeth and charged towards Zoom. He sidestepped and grabbed Wally's arm, throwing him over his shoulder and onto the grass. Wally quickly stood, attempting to control his anger, remembering something Batman had told him about thinking before acting. He stopped and allowed himself to process what Zoom had said, and shook his head in disbelief.

"Hunter… why?"

"Because you need to learn-" Zoom's head twitched slightly before continuing, "-you need to die!"

Wally prepared himself for an attack, but none came. He raised an eyebrow as he saw Zoom clutching his head for a moment before becoming normal again. He seemed to be confused as to what his intentions towards Wally were, and Wally decided to play on that.

"Well Hunter? Which is it? Learn or die?"

Hunter clenched his teeth. "Don't… you… DARE!" he said, charging towards Wally with such rage and speed that Wally had no chance to move. Hunter rammed his shoulder into Wally's chest, following the blow with hundreds of super speed powered punches. Wally attempted to deflect the blows, but only partially succeeded. Hunter finally relented, sending Wally stumbling back in pain. He looked up through bleary eyes to see Hunter coming at him again, his fist drawn back, ready to strike. Wally gritted his teeth and ducked the blow, and Hunter quickly brought his knee up into Wally's face. Wally tasted blood in his mouth as he fell onto his back.

He attempted to turn over and push himself up, but Hunter was already on him, his boot pushing down on his chest, slowly squeezing the breath out of his lungs. Hunter knelt, the pressure from his boot increasing on Wally's chest.

"I wanted you to feel this, Wally. So you could _know_… _truly know _what happened to me."

Wally tried to respond, but was silenced as Hunter's fists pounded on his face and body over and over again, moving at superspeed to the point where Wally couldn't tell the difference between one blow and the next. Wally heard booming noises all around him, and it took a moment for him to place them; they were Hunter's fists breaking the sound barrier. Suddenly, the pain stopped, and Wally felt numb. He looked around to see Hunter stood above him. Wally tried to get away from him, the only movement he could manage being a slithering roll. Hunter appeared in front of him and landed a vicious drop kick to his stomach.

Wally coughed blood and moaned in agony, trying to say something to get his former friend to stop. Then, as though he were never there, Hunter was gone. Wally looked around the park and felt relief wash over him as he realised that he was gone. Wally tried to move and was rewarded with blinding pain. He tried to stand, and was again rewarded with the same agony. He slithered himself along the ground, heading for the one place he knew that Hunter could never find him.

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Ashley Zolomon sat in the kitchen, staring straight ahead, the cup of coffee sat in front of her having long since gone cold. She had seen the news reports and had instantly known who this Reverse Flash was. It could have been anyone else, especially since Hunter had been stabbed in the back the day before. But besides the evidence indicating it wasn't him, Ashley simply recognised her husband, no matter how estranged they were. When she had heard the news of his injury at the hands of that serial killer she had intended to go and visit him and reconcile. She was getting ready to go when she saw the news reports of the Flash fighting someone the media had dubbed 'The Reverse Flash' because of his costume design.

After she saw that news report she had simply sat in her friend's apartment, thankful that she was away working. She had picked up the phone a few times, but had quickly put it down again after she realised that she had no-one to call; only Wally, and he was most likely out. Ashley had always been confused as to where Wally disappeared to all the time. In fact, Ashley had spent most of her time trying to keep her mind off 'The Reverse Flash' by thinking about what the goofy clown that was Wally West got up to.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a thumping at the door. Not a knocking, more a kind of strange thumping. She stood and went to the door and paused at the doorknob.

_What if it's Hunter?_

She heard a muffled voice from the other side of the door that was most definitely not Hunter's.

"Ashley… let me in…"

She looked through the small spy hole in the door and could see no-one in the corridor. She cautiously opened the door, not untying the latch just yet. She looked down and gasped. Knelt at the door was a severely beaten and bruised Flash. She quickly closed the door and untied the latch, slamming the door open and grabbing the injured superhero. She lifted him up and put his arm around her shoulders, attempting to share his weight while she struggled to get him over to the couch. Once he was there, he smiled in relief.

"Why… uh… why are you here? I mean… why did you come here? How did you know my name?"

The Scarlet Speedster paused for a moment, as if attempting to process the questions with an already groggy brain. He lifted his hand and pulled back his mask, hissing through his teeth as it pulled on the bruises on his face. Ashley put her hand over her mouth in shock.

"Oh my God… Wally?"

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"So… you knew it was Hunter?" Wally asked, his mind much clearer once he had had something to eat.

Ashley nodded. "Yes, straight away. Are you sure you're okay? I think you should lie down; you haven't had enough time to heal yet."

Wally shook his head and sipped at the coffee he held in his hand, clutching onto it as if it was his only source of warmth. It felt good to be able to sit without his mask on, especially while the bruises painted his face. "No need. I'm a pretty fast healer." He grinned. "It's a speedster perk."

Ashley gave him a wry smile before her face became serious. "What are you… going to do about Hunter?"

Wally's smile also faded, and he sighed, leaning back in the couch, looking up at the ceiling. "I don't know… I guess I'll have to bring him in," Wally said, scratching his face. He recoiled from the pain. "If I can," he added with a grimace, gently touching the bruises.

Ashley looked ready to say something else when a knock came on the door. Wally quickly put his mask on his face and walked cautiously over to the door, standing next to it so Ashley could open it and the visitor could not see him. She walked over to the spy hole and looked through. A puzzled look crossed her face and she looked at Wally.

"It's a man in a wheelchair," she whispered.

Wally raised an eyebrow. "Um… see what he wants then, I guess," he whispered back.

She cautiously opened the door and Wally pushed his ear to it, trying to hear the conversation as best he could while still being quiet. "Yes?"

"Hello, young lady. I was hoping to find the young man who's been going by my name recently."

"Well, I… um…"

"You can come out, junior. It's not like I can pose a threat, is it?"

Wally took a deep breath and considered. There wasn't much of a possibility that this could be a trick by one of his enemies, and there was nothing to indicate that he was Wally West by his being here...

_Why not?_

Wally sighed and walked out from behind the door, nodding at Ashley to step aside. He looked at the man in the wheelchair and momentarily thought he recognised him. He seemed to be in his fifties, judging by the grey hair around his temples and brown hair everywhere else. Wally tried not to look at his missing left leg and looked directly at the man. His eyes had a kindliness to them that Wally couldn't help but trust implicitly. He had a package wrapped up on his lap that looked like a bowl, but Wally put it aside. He couldn't see how a bowl shape could hurt him. The man smiled when he saw Wally.

"Ah, there you are. I thought I tracked your speed trail here."

_Speed trail?_

"My what?" Wally asked, his eyes thinning slightly, not understanding what he meant. The man waved a hand dismissively.

"Never mind; you're obviously not there yet. All in good time. Anyway, good to meet you," he said, extending his hand.

Wally cautiously extended his own hand and grasped the man's. "Good to meet you too, I guess. I'm the Flash."

The man smiled good-naturedly. "I know very well who you are, young man; I came up with the name, after all."

Wally was getting more confused by the minute. "Well, anyway… nice to meet you, Mr…?"

The man shook his head. "I'm sorry, where are my manners?" he unwrapped the package on his lap, revealing a gleaming silver helmet with yellow wings on either side, mirroring the way that the lightning bolts on Wally's mask were on either side. His eyes widened as the man passed it to him.

"Look familiar?" he said, a gleam in his eye.

Wally examined the helmet as gently as he would a newborn child. He looked up at the man in the wheelchair, almost breathless. "This is… that means that you're…"

The man nodded quietly. Wally looked at him, amazed. Just… looked at him. Ashley looked from the man to Wally, and then back to the man again. "I'm sorry, but I don't understand what this helmet means. Who are you?"

The man smiled and looked at Wally, who was still staring.

"My name is Jay Garrick. And I'm here to help."

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(A/N: You guys 'n' gals hate? You guys 'n' gals love? Review, dammit!)


	6. Explanations and Distractions

Disclaimer: Flash, Wally West and all that DC stuff splattered around this story? It's not mine.

_**Legacies**_

_**Chapter 6: Explanations and Distractions**_

John Stewart, the ex-Marine turned Green Lantern, sighed as he looked up at the ceiling from the medical bay bed. He had just returned from a rather nasty battle in the Trithian nebula, and he had the burns to prove it. At least, he had when he had first arrived. Thanks to the advanced technology available at the Justice League Watchtower, his injuries had been tended to and almost completely healed in a matter of minutes. Of course, his burns weren't that bad in the first place. He had never been more grateful for the protective green sheath his ring provided in space battles. Booster Gold had ended up taking the most damage from the explosion, but he was going to pull through.

John was waiting to be told that he could leave, which was especially frustrating considering he had been tended to half an hour ago. Mari had visited him briefly before going off on a mission herself, which had left John laid on the uncomfortably stiff bed by himself again. He groaned and pushed himself out of the bed, walking over to the chair where his Green Lantern Corp uniform was slung. He got changed and left the medical bay and decided to get a cup of coffee before heading to the command center.

One quick visit to the mess hall later, John was stepping out of the elevator and onto the upper level of the command center. He looked over the different screens and suddenly felt very small and insignificant. It reminded him of when he was a child, and how he would spend hours at a time staring at the stars at night, and John remembered how small he had felt then. He hardly ever felt that way after he joined the Green Lantern Corp, but it did hit him now and then, especially after the new and improved Justice League was born. He looked over to see Mr Terrific working diligently at the controls.

A small red light started beeping on the control panel, indicating an incoming transmission. Mr Terrific pushed a button beneath the flashing light and got back to work.

"Watchtower," he said, never once stopping what he was doing.

"_Yeah, this is Cyborg – from the Titans."_

_From the Titans? What could he want? _

John walked over to Mr Terrific and stood behind him as he continued his conversation.

"What's the problem?"

"_It's the Flash. He's in trouble."_

John set his coffee cup down on the control panel as he leaned forward to hear more, and Mr Terrific gave him a slightly disapproving look before getting back to work.

"What kind of trouble?"

"_He's got this new enemy who has all of his powers, but he… well, he's a lot more deadly than W-… Flash."_

John noticed how he almost used Wally's real name and put his hand on Mr Terrific's shoulder.

"I'll take it from here."

Mr Terrific nodded and moved his chair out of the way slightly so John could move more freely.

"Cyborg, this is Green Lantern. When did you last see Flash?"

"_About ten hours ago. He said he was gonna lead the guy away, but I haven't seen any news reports talking about them fighting. I tried to call him, but I get no response, whether I call his Titans communicator or his home."_

John nodded. "All right, we'll check it out. Thanks for the heads up." John was about to terminate the connection when Cyborg spoke again.

"_No, wait, listen to me. If you go and help him, be sure you take your most powerful guys with you. This guy means business – he took me apart in the space of about thirty seconds."_

John nodded again. "All right. Thanks."

Cyborg sighed. _"Just don't underestimate him. If you do, you could wind up dead. I almost did."_

John terminated the connection and pushed another button on the control panel, bringing up a list of names on the monitor in front of him. He selected 'The Flash' from the list and pushed the outgoing communications button.

"Flash, come in."

The only noise he got in response was static. John pushed the button again.

"Flash, this is Green Lantern. Come in."

The static continued, and John grew more concerned by the second. He turned towards Mr Terrific.

"He's not responding."

Mr Terrific raised an eyebrow and tried the communication for himself. John would have felt irritated at this repetition of something he had just done himself, but he was too worried about Wally for it to bother him. Mr Terrific looked thoughtful for a moment, then looked at John.

"There're a few possibilities. One, he could have simply taken the communicator out. Two, he's out of range. Three, the communicator's been destroyed. Or four…"

He didn't finish his sentence, and John didn't need him to. He simply turned and headed for the landing bay.

"I'm heading down there."

"You should wait for backup."

John turned and smiled, holding his ring up to his face, letting it illuminate his features with a brilliant green.

"I think I can handle it."

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Wally looked at the tree ahead of him and exhaled noisily through his noise, trying his utmost to concentrate. He stretched and shook his arms, cricking his neck while he lightly jogged on the spot. He rubbed his hands together and extended his arm towards the tree, his fingers stretched outwards. He started to shake his hand as fast as he could. He began to hear a slight buzzing sound as his hand went faster and faster. He stayed with the feeling of the vibrations, allowing it to course through his entire body, just as Jay had told him.

Wally still had a hard time believing he was being trained in how to use his speed by the original Flash. He had read comic books about The Flash who fought in World War Two, but he had always thought him just that – a myth, a piece of propaganda to increase morale. And yet, here he was, sat patiently behind Wally in a wheelchair, having brought him out into the woods to tutor him in how to vibrate his molecules fast enough to pass through solid objects, just as Hunter had done in their first battle. According to Jay, it was this vibrating technique that had caused the strange marks found on Klann's body.

However, Wally had since learned, much to his relief, that Hunter was not solely responsible for his actions. An old enemy of Jay's was the reason behind Hunter's sudden powers and psychotic demeanour. That old enemy's identity was The Rival, another character that Wally had thought an invention of the comic books he had read as a child. Jay had told him the true identity of The Rival and how he got his powers, and Wally had been as wide eyed and enthralled as a ten year old.

The Rival was a scientist named Edward Clariss, who had become obsessed with super speed after Jay's first appearance as The Flash. Using his considerable intellect, he managed to duplicate the formula that had given Jay his powers, a formula that Jay had dubbed 'The Hard Water Formula'. However, the formula was only half of the equation when it came to speedster powers, as Wally knew too well – the powers he and Jay possessed were a mix of chemicals and the lightning bolt that hit them. However, Clariss only had the formula, and had hurriedly tried the formula on himself.

The formula accomplished its' task for the most part, with the added side effect that it adversely affected Clariss' mental health, which had already been precarious because of his obsession with super speed. He latched on to the idea that Jay had somehow stolen his idea for obtaining super speed, and set out to defeat him. The battle did not last long, however, as the formula that Clariss' had taken was only temporary, and his powers soon ran out. He managed to evade Jay long enough to retreat to his lab and take a dangerously high dose of the formula, increasing his powers to the point that even Jay couldn't match his speed. However, as Wally knew all too well, that kind of speed can be deadly, and Clariss became one with the Speed Force.

Wally had been confused at this story, as it still didn't explain how Clariss had returned, or how he and Hunter were sharing one body. Jay had said that Clariss could have been released from the Speed Force when Wally was pulled out by Shayera and rest of the League after the battle with Luthor and Brainiac. However, either because of the length of time he spent in Speed Force, or because of the temporary nature of his powers, Clariss had returned as a shadowy creature that could remain unseen to the naked eye.

Because of his extensive experience with the Speed Force, Jay had instantly felt something amiss when Clariss had escaped, and had begun tracking him, and was getting ready to confront him when he had bonded with Hunter. Clariss had obviously learned from past mistakes, however, and because of his time spent in the Speed Force, he had somehow learnt to control it.

He had bonded with Hunter, providing the formula side of the equation while also summoning Speed Force energy from the heavens to give Hunter powers as permanent and as deadly as Wally's. When Jay had told him the whole story, Wally had been filled with relief and dread; relief at the fact that his friend was being twisted and manipulated into doing these horrible acts, and dread at the fact that Wally was fighting an enemy with superior speed and experience, and one who couldn't be reasoned with or bargained with.

Jay had assured Wally that his speed was as great as Clariss and Hunter's, but Wally wasn't convinced. He still wasn't, even as he inched his vibrating hand towards the tree trunk. He had been able to vibrate through solid objects as Kid Flash, but it had always taken a lot out of him. Over time he had used the skill less and less to the embarrassing point where he needed to be trained in how to do it again. He winced and scrunched his features as his hand came within an inch of the tree. Wally pushed on, and his hand started to go through the tree. Wally's eyes widened in shock, and a slight smile appeared on his lips. However, the shock at this accomplishment had distracted him, and Wally's hand slowed, and the tree smashed apart around his arm. He quickly withdrew his arm and began nursing his stinging hand, turning sheepishly to look at Jay.

"Sorry," he said, rubbing his hand in a desperate attempt to get the throbbing pain to go away.

Jay closed his eyes and tilted his head forward nonchalantly. "It's okay, junior. To be honest, you're getting along much faster with this than I did when I first got my powers."

Wally smiled and shook his hand, relieved that the pain in his hand was subsiding. "Yeah. Right."

Jay raised his hand defensively. "I'm serious, junior. Don't worry; you'll get it. You just need some more time to work on it."

"Right," Wally sighed, sitting on a nearby rock so that he was facing Jay. His masked eyes lingered slightly on Jay's missing leg, and Wally decided to ask now and get it over with. "Mr Garrick…"

"I told you junior, call me Jay."

"Okay… uh… Jay. How did you… I mean, that is… how did you…?"

"Lose this?" he said, pointing at the stump hidden underneath the blanket that draped over his legs.

Wally nodded, feeling ashamed for even asking the question.

"Don't look so worried, junior. Frankly, I'm surprised it took you this long to ask. I lost it after the war. I was going up against a villain known as The Shade."

Wally frowned. "Shade? As in, black suit, top hat, cane that spits out black stuff?"

Jay nodded. "That's right. I'm not surprised if you've fought him. I've heard rumours that he's been around since the nineteenth century."

Wally raised an eyebrow. "He doesn't look it."

Jay let out a small laugh before continuing. "He was planning to activate some kind of device that would faze Keystone City out of existence, which he'd designed by working with two other villains, the Thinker and the Fiddler."

Wally smiled in spite of himself. "'The Fiddler'? You're not serious."

Jay looked over at him. "Deadly serious, junior."

Wally's smile faded and he remained silent.

"I managed to stop them," Jay continued, "But the machine became unstable and was going to explode. So, I grabbed the machine and ran as far into the ocean as I could. Unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough to get away before it exploded, and…" he gestured down to the stump.

Wally suddenly felt very awkward and stupid for asking him in the first place. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have…"

Jay raised a hand to stop him. "I've already said, junior, it's not a problem. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to ask _you _a question."

"Uh… sure."

"Why did you choose the name Flash?"

Wally shrugged and smiled. "I don't know… I move fast. What says that better than Flash? The Streak? The Whizzer?"

Jay chuckled. "I see your point. But… you were Kid Flash as well, weren't you? Why be _Kid _Flash first, and then move on to _The _Flash?"

Wally was silent for a moment, the easy smile he had worn fading into a look of sadness as he mumbled his response. "I've got my reasons. I'd rather not…"

Jay nodded understandingly. "I understand junior. It's not important right now. Right now, you need to be the best damn Flash you can so you can beat Clariss and save your friend."

Wally clapped his hands on his knees and pushed himself up off the rock. "Right," he said, nodding in an all business manner.

"All right, but I think we'll move onto more dense objects now, like rocks."

Wally's frowned and raised a worried eyebrow. "Rocks? Are you sure? I mean… they're pretty solid."

"That's the point, junior. Now, before you get started, I want to give you some advice; stop thinking."

"Huh?"

"You're thinking too much." Seeing the clueless look on Wally's face, Jay sighed, and then continued. "Look at it this way; when you run, do you think about running?"

"Well… it's either that or go running at mach 3 into a wall, so yeah, I kinda do."

"Then you're thinking too hard. Let me guess, when your hand went through the tree you felt shocked that you did it, right?" Wally nodded. "And that's why you messed up and ended up shattering it. You were thinking about it too much. You need to become part of what you're doing to the point were you don't have to think about it anymore. You understand, junior?"

Wally's frown deepened into a look of confusion. "Not really. But I promise I'll think about it."

Jay grinned. "You're a very different Flash than I was, junior. And I think that's what's going to help you to win this fight."

Wally found a suitably large rock and began preparing himself. He only hoped that Hunter and Clariss weren't causing too much trouble back in Central City.

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John floated down so that he could get an overview of the entire city. Everything seemed calm on the surface, but John had learned from bitter experience that that usually meant that something big and nasty was brewing. While he was on his way in, he had called the other founding Leaguers to see if they had had any contact with Wally, with little by the way of results. He had gone to Wally's apartment and found it wrecked, which had worried him to no end. And so, he now found himself floating, both figuratively and literally, waiting until something happened. Much to his relief, there was the familiar sound or sirens coming from the city, and John set off after the noise.

By the time he arrived at the scene, the police car's siren had been torn away, and the front of the car looked as though it had been attacked by a jackhammer. On closer inspection, John found that the dents in the car were made by fists. He looked up and down the street and found no one. He used his ring to look for the thermal trail of footprints, and found a trail that twisted and turned so much that it would have taken any normal man a day to repeat the same motions.

_That must be Wally's mystery enemy._

John encased himself in green energy and floated away, following the trail while staying high enough to avoid any trucks or buses that may come driving down the road. He turned left and followed the road ahead until he came to a junction. He looked left and right and was surprised at how little traffic there was. He heard the noise of sirens again, and abandoned the trail to find the source. He arrived on this scene much sooner than before, in time to see a man dressed in what looked like the Flash's costume, only with colours inverted. He was throwing policeman left and right, and John used his ring to cushion their fall, placing them safely on the ground.

He turned his attention to the yellow Flash and encased him in a green bubble. The villain seemed confused for a moment before he turned around and saw John floating in mid air above him. John brought the bubble up to him so he could look at the yellow Flash face to face.

"I think that costume design belongs to someone else. And I don't think he'd appreciate you wrecking his city, either."

The yellow Flash smiled. "Since he's not around, I thought I'd take the city for myself."

"It might be hard for you to do that from jail."

"I sincerely doubt you can hold me."

John smiled. "Knock yourself out."

The yellow Flash grinned back, and he held up both his hands in front of him. The hand began to shake until all John could see were two yellow blurs where his forearms and hands should have been. He slammed the two hands down into the bubble, and John grimaced as he struggled to keep the bubble intact around his foe. However, the yellow Flash's entire body began to shake, and the yellow blur sank down through the green sphere. John swore under his breath as the yellow Flash plummeted, a confident smirk on his face the entire time. He stretched his arms out to either side and began to spin himself, creating a miniature cyclone around himself. The cyclone reached the ground and the yellow Flash slowly span to a halt, crossing his arms in satisfaction as he looked up at John.

"Who are you?" John growled, irritated that he had so easily escaped from him.

"Zoom," the yellow Flash hissed, before running off to his left and up the side of a building. Once he became level with John he pushed himself off the building with speedster strength, propelling himself towards the Green Lantern with incredible speed, flipping over in mid flight so that both feet were facing towards him. John only just managed to create a shield before Zoom slammed into his feet first, sending him flying into the building behind him. John grunted as he went through brick and glass and landed in the middle of an office area.

Ignoring the frightened and confused looks on the office workers faces, John stood up and saw that Zoom was stood in the hole that he had created. John pointed his ring at the grinning villain and fired a beam of emerald energy. Zoom ducked beneath and shot straight towards him. Before John could do anything else, Zoom had already grabbed him by the arm and thrown him with superspeed diagonally down through the floor and out into the open again. John slammed into the street, only just protecting himself with a protective layer of green energy before the impact. He pushed himself up off the ground, and turned in time to see Zoom running down the side of the building and heading straight towards him. He raised his arm and Zoom half ducked in anticipation.

John smiled at the move and created a huge emerald wall in front of him. John prepared himself for the high speed impact, but was only greeted by a buzzing noise as Zoom blurred through the wall and slammed into John, sending him careening through the building behind him and into the next street. John put his hand on his head to sooth the pain, and was surprised that he was bleeding from a cut just above his right eye. John heard Zoom coming in for another strike. Surprised by his relentless attacks, John decided to put some distance between him and the golden villain. He encased himself in green energy and pushed himself up off the ground.

Before he could even get airborne, John was suddenly being tossed and turned by a Zoom created cyclone. Then, as suddenly as the cyclone had been created, it stopped. John faltered in the air slightly, disoriented from the intense spinning. That was all that Zoom needed. John looked up in time Zoom leaping towards him, grabbing him as gravity took control of the speedster. They both went crashing to the ground, Zoom positioning them so that John took the brunt of the fall. John gritted his teeth and pushed his ring hand in a fist against Zoom's stomach. He fired a bolt of green energy point blank, tossing Zoom backwards through the air before he crashed onto the top of a parked car behind him. The car crumpled under the impact, causing the windows to shatter and the car's alarm to whine in protest.

John forced himself to his feet, ignoring the pain coursing through his ankle as he realised it had been twisted badly in the forced landing, and looked at where Zoom had landed on the car. His eyes widened as he realised that he was gone. He was about to turn when he felt a burning jab of pain in the small of his back. He yelled in pain and fell to the ground. He struggled desperately to get up as he felt Zoom's boot jab itself into the center of his back.

"Move… and I break your spine."

John ceased his struggle, but began to quietly gather energy in his ring, pushing the ring against the ground while hiding the building energy beneath his stomach.

"When you see West again… tell him I'll meet him where Hunter Zolomon's end began."

John felt relieved that Wally was still alive somewhere, but more shocked that this… Reverse Flash knew Wally's name. Zoom spoke again.

"Of course, you'll be telling him from a hospital bed. That'll be two broken men he could've saved but didn't. I wonder how you'll handle being a cripple?"

John released the energy he had been saving, propelling himself and Zoom upwards, and destroying the ground beneath them, revealing the sewer pipes that ran beneath the roads. John encased himself in green energy and shot down into the pipe, hoping that Zoom wouldn't follow. He quickly navigated the sewer system, using a manhole to bring himself back out into the open and a suitable distance from the battle and Zoom. He looked up and down the street to make sure that the yellow Flash hadn't somehow followed him here, and put his hand to his ear to contact the League, and found that the earpiece was missing. He cursed and began to make his way to Metropolis in order to go to the Metro tower and bring back reinforcements when he was suddenly overcome by a wave of dizziness.

He managed to land on a rooftop before collapsing to the ground.

_Must have taken more out of me that I thought,_ John thought, before the entire world went black around him.

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Wally brought his vibrating hand out of the rock and stood back, hoping that this time would be different. The past five attempts had resulted in the rocks exploding shortly after he had vibrated through them. He was improving in his skills though, despite the odd side effect. He had even managed to keep his foot inside a rock for about ten seconds. Jay was impressed by that, although he was very confused that all the rocks had exploded. He had taken cover behind a large tree, shouting encouragement to Wally from his hiding place.

Wally waited for thirty seconds.

A minute.

The rock remained a rock. Wally grinned and turned towards Jay, who was leaning around the tree to see what had happened. Wally gave him a thumbs up, and Jay smiled back.

"I knew you had it in you, junior."

Wally frowned. "But do you think it's enough to beat Clariss and Hunter?"

Jay's face became equally serious as he pushed his chair over to Wally and put a hand on his shoulder. "It'll have to be, junior. I don't think we can spend anymore time here."

Wally nodded and took a deep breath, blowing it out noisily. "Okay. Let's do this."

He helped Jay out of his chair and folded it up and put it on, using the straps that Ashley had attached to it to turn it into a makeshift backpack before scooping Jay up and heading back to Central City. Wally wasn't about to let some relic from the past destroy his city and his friend.

He owed it to Hunter to fight for him.

He owed it to Bart.

He owed it to himself.

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(A/N: Like? Hate? Or just confused? Whatever it is, review!)


	7. Confronting the Demon

Disclaimer: I don't own Flash, Wally West, or anything DC related.

_**Legacies**_

**_Chapter 7: Confronting the Demon_**

Wally rounded the corner and was greeted by the familiar sight of Central City. He grimaced and increased his speed slightly. He hoped that Hunter/Clariss (Wally wasn't sure what to call them, so he simply opted for Zoom) didn't see or hear them entering the city – after all, he didn't know how he'd stop Clariss from instantly killing his old arch foe, Jay Garrick. Wally chanced a glance down at the man he carried in his arms, and still felt the same amount of admiration and hero worship he had felt when he first picked up a Flash comic as a kid. He only hoped that he could live up to the name and defeat Clariss while somehow keeping Hunter alive.

He rounded another corner and came to his apartment building. He quickly scaled the building and ran to his apartment, using the same caution he always used to avoid being seen by anyone in the corridors. As he came to his apartment, he noticed that the front door was open, and quickly came to a halt. He doubled back round the corner, and proceeded to carefully lower Jay to the floor and unfolded the wheelchair that was strapped to his back. He placed it on the floor and helped Jay into it, before putting his finger to his lips. Jay nodded in understanding and Wally cautiously crept around the corner and to his door.

He peeked inside to see someone sat on the sofa, their back to him. Wally raised an eyebrow as he realised he recognised the back of that head from somewhere else.

"John?"

The head turned to reveal John Stewart, otherwise known as the Green Lantern.

"Took you long enough," John huffed, struggling to his feet. Wally crossed his arms.

"Oh yeah? Well you didn't exactly rush over here, did ya?"

John looked ready to respond when he looked past Wally with a raised eyebrow. Wally turned to see Jay sat in the doorway behind Wally.

"Oh yeah," Wally grinned, "This is Jay Garrick. Jay, this is John Stewart, otherwise known as the illustrious and pain in the ass Green Lantern."

Ignoring Wally's comment, John extended his hand. Jay took it and smiled.

"I take it you work with Wally here a lot?"

John sighed. "Too much."

Jay smiled and Wally suddenly felt very annoyed. "Anyway… what're you doing here?" he said, turning towards John.

John crossed his arms. "We got a call from a friend of yours; Cyborg from the Titans."

Wally frowned. "Is he okay?"

"I think so… he sounded fine to me. I also had a little run in with a yellow friend of yours," he said, indicating his torn clothing. "I only just managed to struggle back here."

"Are you okay?"

John nodded. "I will be. Your first aid kit is-"

Wally sped away, and in a split second he was back with a new first aid kit. He handed it to John with a grin.

"-terrible," John finished, taking the first aid kit from Wally. Wally nodded and started to back out the door.

"Well, you two'll have to make do without me, 'cause I've got a psycho to stop."

"Hold it, Wally. You can't just go after him yourself. We need to call some backup – get the League involved. There's no way he can stand up to all of us."

Wally stopped and sighed. "We can't. Not yet. I don't want to bring the League in until I have to."

"Why?"

"Because they might kill him."

John narrowed his eyes, and was about to respond when Jay intervened.

"I'll explain the whole thing to you." He turned to Wally. "Go junior – there's no telling what Clariss is getting up to."

Wally nodded. "Right." He was about to speed away when John took a step forward.

"Wally… he told me that he'll be where Hunter Zolomon's end began."

"What?"

"During our fight… that's what he told me."

Wally bowed his head in thought. "Where Hunter's end began… what could…" Wally's eyes widened and he shot out the door.

John looked at where Wally was before looking at Jay in surprise, who simply smiled.

"Green Lantern, eh?"

"That's right."

"Tell me, do you know Alan Scott?"

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Wally sped down the streets, narrowly avoiding cars and pedestrians, ignoring the temptation to test his vibrating skills on the various obstacles in his way. He didn't need some old lady exploding because he wasn't vibrating fast enough. However, Wally could already feel a difference in how swiftly he could move. His whole body felt loose, as if he could move and stretch in any direction. He hadn't noticed when he was carrying Jay, but after the little crash course that Jay had given him, Wally felt like a Flash more than ever before while he was running. He turned another corner, continuing down the road before stopping in front of the only place that Hunter could have been talking about; the Central City Orphanage.

He looked up at the building and cupped his hands around his mouth. He hoped Hunter was in there, because he would tick off a lot of orphans if he had come to the wrong place.

"Hunter! Get out here!"

Wally waited. No response.

"C'mon Hunter! Not scared, are ya?"

He waited a few more seconds before trying again. Wally was getting concerned, most especially for the orphans inside. Wally tried a different approach.

"What about you Clariss? Maybe it's you who's scared!"

Wally still got no response, and was about to head inside the building to search when the double doors burst open and Zoom emerged, leaping down the stairs and landing a few metres in front of Wally. He had a smile on his face, though there was nothing pleased in his expression.

"So, you know."

Wally put his hands on his hips and grinned. "Yep – got some help from an old buddy of yours."

Zoom's eyes widened and he looked as though he would attack, before he straightened up, a smirk spread across his lips as he crossed his arms. "So… Garrick's still alive… I'd have thought he'd be long dead by now…"

"We speedsters live a long time. C'mon, Clariss, you should know that. I thought you knew about this stuff."

Zoom tilted his head. "Why do you suddenly think you can be so confident? Don't you remember the lesson I taught you?"

"That's what this is all about, isn't it Clariss? Learning. At least, that's what Hunter wants. You just want to kill all things Flash. Talk about a conflict of interests."

Zoom's smile increased. "I'm not surprised you don't understand yet, West. You never were the smartest of superheroes. I'm Hunter Zolomon _and _Edward Clariss. They became one through the power of the Speed Force. My hatred for you comes from both of them."

Wally smiled and started to stretch, not removing his careless demeanour for one second.

"Is that right? Then what was with the whole 'Kill Flash! Teach Flash!' thing back in the park?"

"I was just debating what to do with you."

"So… you're a guy made up of two other guys… and you have a split personality. Are you sure I need to learn anything? 'Cause there are plenty of guys in white coats who could learn a whole lot from you."

Zoom's grin faded slightly and Wally saw him grit his teeth. "I know how to shut you up…"

Zoom shot forward, and Wally was surprised at how slow he was moving compared to his incredible speed when they fought before. Zoom was still fast, there was no doubt in Wally's mind about that, but he seemed to move so that Wally had time to react; before, he barely got a glimpse of yellow before Zoom slammed into him. Wally silently thanked Jay and got back to work.

Zoom lifted his arm and brought his fist forward. Wally easily ducked the blow and brought his fist back. Using all the speed he could muster, he delivered an uppercut to Zoom's chin, sending him hurtling down the street and into the trailer of a truck that was turning the corner. The driver quickly vacated the vehicle, ignoring the protesting cars behind him.

Zoom stumbled out of the trailer and hopped to the ground. Wally was already there waiting for him, the grin on his face causing Zoom to clench his fists and grind his jaw in anger.

"Oh yeah, I forgot," Wally said nonchalantly, smirking the entire time. "I can kick your butt now."

Zoom sped forward and again attempted to plant a fist on Wally. Wally easily dodged the right hook and was about to respond with one of his own Zoom quickly jabbed his left fist up and into Wally's stomach. Wally gasped as the air was thrown out of him, and he hopped backwards to put some distance between himself and Zoom, who now had a smirk on his twisted face.

"Not as tough as you thought, hmm?"

He came in to hit Wally while he was down, but Wally quickly sidestepped the blow and grabbed Zoom's arm, throwing him over his shoulder and slamming him into the street below them, the speed of the impact causing a miniature crater in the road. Zoom, while still lying in the small crater, quickly reached up and grabbed Wally's collar, throwing him down the street with the same speed.

Wally adapted to the throw and managed to flip himself to his feet, skidding to a halt as he realised that Zoom had followed him down the street. Zoom threw his fist forward with sonic speed, connecting with Wally's chin and creating a shockwave of sound that shattered the windows of skyscrapers for two miles in every direction. Wally somehow managed to remain on his feet and quickly returned the favour, another shockwave booming through the streets of Central City.

Zoom knotted his fists together and slammed them into the side of Wally's head, sending him reeling backwards. Wally was simply surprised that he hadn't been sent flying across the city. Zoom came at him again, swinging his fists at his head. Wally leapt backwards and downwards, balancing on his hands as he kicked out his legs and planting them firmly in Zoom's stomach, causing him to first stumble and then roll backwards. Zoom stood and Wally did the same, the two opponents standing eye to eye with one another.

Wally quickly glanced up and down the street, surveying the damage. Cars were overturned; fire hydrants were spurting geysers of water into the air; the windows of skyscrapers up and down the street were shattered. Wally didn't even want to think about the effect the shockwaves would have had on the people in those buildings.

_I've got to lead him away. I can't let anyone else get hurt._

Wally grinned and pointed his thumb to his left, and shot off in that direction. He glanced back to see Zoom following him, and turned forward with a confident smile.

Now he had a chance.

Now he could save Hunter.

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"Save him? You're kidding. Why would he want to-?"

"If it was Wally, would you try and help him?"

John sighed and nodded. Jay had been explaining what had been happening in Central City, and John was finding the whole thing difficult to believe. His faith in the story had jumped leaps and bounds when the entire building was shook several times by a faint booming noise. John had wanted to jump into the fray after the second boom, but Jay had restrained him, saying that it wasn't his fight. John had conceded, knowing what Jay was too polite to say; Zoom would take him apart, just as he had done before. He had no idea that Wally's power was so deadly, even after the incident with Luthor and Brainiac.

John was brought out of his thoughts by Jay, who was asking him a question. John shook his head.

"I'm sorry, what?"

Jay smiled. "Let me guess, a million miles away? I know the feeling."

John smiled back. He liked this guy. He found it hard to believe that he had fought in World War Two while he was in his thirties, considering how young he looked. But from the look in his eyes, John could see the familiar weary look that came with constantly fighting day in, day out.

"What was the question?"

"I said, 'did you know that Wally used to be Kid Flash'?"

John raised an eyebrow and smirked. "_Kid Flash_? You're kidding."

"Is this the face of a kidder?"

John scratched his beard contemplatively. "I wonder what his costume looked like?" he said, asking himself more than Jay.

"He might still have it here."

John looked up at Jay and smirked again. He stood and looked for places that Wally would keep an embarrassing costume of days gone by. He instantly saw the closet and opened the door, being submerged up to his feet in products ranging from clothes to discarded pizza boxes. He spotted the unmarked white box and pulled it out from underneath the rubble. He sat on the sofa again and opened the box, pulling out the costume within.

"He wore this…?" John said, raising an incredulous eyebrow as he looked over at Jay. Jay nodded and smiled.

John was about to laugh at the ridiculous look of the costume when he thought about the man who used to wear it. He frowned and stood, going to the window. He growled at the view of the street below him and turned in frustration.

"That's it – I'm going to the Watchtower _now_."

"You can't; not yet. Give junior a chance to do this."

"I can't just sit here and do nothing. I'm going up to the Watchtower just to get reinforcements _ready_. Anything's better than this."

He walked over to Jay and extended his hand. "It was good to meet you."

"You too. You're a credit to the name 'Green Lantern'."

"Coming from you, that means everything." John stepped to the window and opened it as far as it would go. He encased himself in green energy and leapt out, heading up and out towards space.

Jay pushed himself over to the window and closed it. He looked around the apartment and sighed. Catching a glance of the Kid Flash costume that was discarded on the floor, Jay's thoughts lingered on Wally. He decided to turn on the television, trying to ignore the one thought continually rattling around his head.

_I hope he's okay._

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"I hope he's okay."

"Would you _please _stop saying that?"

Bart brought his head up off the pillow and looked through the glass at Robin. "If you let me out, you wouldn't have to listen to me complain and moan so much."

Although Bart couldn't tell with much certainty, he was sure the red and black clad teen rolled his eyes. "Look, you know why you can't come out."

"Because I'll go and help W… Flash, but… you'd do the same for Batman."

"Yeah, but _I _know what I'm doing. You're just some random kid that the Flash rescued."

Bart's eyes widened. "_Just some kid?_ Who told you that?"

"Cyborg. You know, big robot guy, was in here before…?"

"I _know _who Cyborg is, stupid. But I'm not just some kid. Would 'just some kid' be able to do this…?"

Bart jumped out of the bed and zoomed from there to the corner of the room, and from there, to the other corner. He continued until Robin began to protest.

"Okay, okay, I believe you. Just don't do that again, you'll make me dizzy."

"Right, but… you get my point, right?"

Robin nodded.

"Then why don't you let me out?"

"Because Cyborg told me not to, and I'm in enough trouble with him as it is. Although I don't get why, I mean it's not my fault Cassie decided to come in at _that _moment-"

Bart knocked on the glass separating them and Robin stopped talking. "This is really interesting and all, but I've really gotta go help-"

"-The Flash, I know, I know. Sorry pal, it's not an option."

Bart sighed and sat at the foot of his bed. He looked up at Robin dejectedly. "Could you at least tell me why I need to be in this room?"

Robin raised an eyebrow. "Don't you know?"

"No," Bart said, shaking his head. "Do you?"

"I was hoping you knew. I was kinda curious myself."

"Well, could you at least let me out of this room? I promise you can lock all the doors and everything, and that way we're both… uh… not bored."

Robin scratched his chin as he mulled it over. "Well… I guess. But Cyborg was pretty serious that you stay in here… no," Robin said, shaking his head, "no, I can't. Sorry, but I'm trying to get in his good graces, at least for a little bit."

Bart huffed and slumped back onto the bed. "This sucks…" he muttered.

"I know… I'm sorry."

Bart dismissed him with a wave of his hand. "It's okay. It's not like it's your fault, right?"

Robin gave him a nod, smiling. "Right. Now why couldn't Cyborg and Cassie have seen it that way?"

"They sound pretty touchy."

"That's exactly it! I mean, just because it was an accident, doesn't mean it wasn't _funny_. And then they all go crazy at me like it's my fault! Changeling found it funny, but of course he didn't tell me that until _after_."

"Hey… you think that with training and stuff I could be a Titan?"

"I dunno. You seem pretty cool, but we're a pretty closed off group. I only got in because of Nightwing," Robin said, some smugness seeping through his voice when he mentioned Nightwing.

"You know _the _Nightwing? Man, where I come from, he's like a cool Batman!"

"'Where you come from'? Where's that?"

"I'm uh…" Bart suddenly felt a bit nervous, though he wasn't sure why. "I'm from the future."

"Oh," Robin said, not missing a beat as he nodded in approval, "that's cool. So… you hear anything about any Robins?"

"Not really… I thought your name was Birdie until Cyborg told me."

"Birdie? Ah, that's not fair…"

Bart laughed. "Yeah, I know."

There was a long silence between the two. Bart regretted that he would be forced to leave after Wally 'fixed' him. It would have been really cool for him to become a Titan. Although, that was all dependent on whether Wally lived through the whole 'Zoom' thing. In Bart's time, Hunter Zolomon was simply known as _very bad name _in the Flash history books, though Bart was never sure why.

"Hey… who is the Flash? I mean, is he your uncle or something?" Robin asked, interrupting his thoughts.

"He's…" Bart paused, considering what Wally was to him; even in the short time he had known him. "He's my brother."

Robin deeply frowned and took an equally deep breath. He mumbled something under his breath that Bart couldn't hear, though he most definitely heard the words 'Cyborg' and 'my ass'. Robin looked up at him. "Okay, I'm gonna let you go. But _only _if I go with you."

Bart leapt out of the bed. "Okay, sure, no prob! Let's just get outta here!"

Robin pushed the button to open the door and Bart was suddenly behind him. Robin turned and almost jumped in shock. "Okay, we've seriously got to work on that."

Bart smiled and turned around. "Okay, now hold on tight – I've never done this before."

"Oh, great…"

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(A/N: Enjoyment? Or Non Enjoyment?

Anyway, the reviews are great, so keep 'em coming!)


	8. Destiny Fulfilled

Disclaimer: I don't own any DC or Flash stuff. This story's mine though.

_**Legacies**_

_**Chapter 8: Destiny Fulfilled**_

As he ran towards the forest that lay outside Central City, Wally's mind lingered on one thought:

_This is a really different kinda fight._

Wally had never fought anyone else with super speed. He had fought villains faster than the average human, but none who could match him blow for blow, speed for speed. And it was exhausting, though more mentally than physically. Zoom just didn't stop; he was relentless. It was most likely how he was able to defeat both Vic and John while most villains would struggle to make them break a sweat.

Wally dodged through the trees blocking his path, running past the very place where he had been training with Jay hours before; though he didn't notice it. He glanced back to still see Zoom in close pursuit, and turned forwards determinedly. Suddenly, he had the impression that Zoom was no longer following, and turned back once more. Zoom was indeed gone, and Wally turned back in time to see that Zoom had run around and overtaken him without his noticing. He rapidly scooped up several baseball sized rocks, firing them at machine gun speed at Wally, using the same trick that he had used many times before.

Wally dodged over and under the rocks, frantically turning left and right as they skimmed past his scarlet costume. Wally gritted his teeth and decided to go on the offensive, grabbing one of the rocks as it approached his head, spinning with it as if it were a discus, throwing it back at Zoom. Zoom easily ducked underneath, but that pause was all that Wally needed to charge forward and land a fist to the side of Zoom's head. Zoom reeled, stumbling to his left in order to get away from Wally. He quickly recovered and charged at Wally, who turned and ran, leading him towards a large tree.

Wally concentrated on what Jay had taught him, letting the vibrations run through his entire body, going faster and faster until…

The tree came closer and closer and Wally closed his eyes, expecting a hard collision despite his training. There was a steady hissing noise as Wally passed through the tree trunk. He reopened his eyes and turned around to see the tree behind him and smiled. He saw Zoom about to vibrate through the tree as well, when it suddenly exploded. Wally's smile grew into a smirk, and he returned, unable to resist a chance to gloat. He stood a distance away from Zoom, his hands on his hips.

"Sorry about that – I guess I need more practise with the whole 'going through solid stuff' thing."

Zoom stood and wiped the blood trickling from his nose, his teeth clenched. Without a word, he shot off to his left, and Wally followed almost instantaneously, his smile disappearing as he realised that Zoom was taking him back to the city.

Frowning, Wally increased his speed.

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"Could you slow down a bit?"

Tim saw Bart turn to see his slightly green face looking at him pleadingly. Bart rolled his eyes and puffed out his bottom lip slightly, reducing his pace to accommodate his passenger.

"This is the fourth time! We're never gonna get there at this rate!"

"Oh yeah? Then how do you explain _that_?" Tim said, pointing at a sign that read:

'_Welcome to Central City: Home of The Flash.'_

Tim smirked. "I'm not too sure, but _maybe _this is the place."

"Ah, shut up…"

Bart tried to turn the corners as hard as he could, prompting several nauseous noises of protests from Tim before they reached Wally's apartment building. Bart copied how he had seen Wally run up the side, increasing his speed anxiously as he did so.

"Do you know what you're doing?" Tim asked, gripping Bart's neck tighter and clenching his eyes shut.

"Not really," Bart choked, "But we're halfway there now!"

"Oh, great!"

Tim felt himself being thrown forward and landed with a painful thud on something solid. He opened his eyes to find that they had landed safely on the roof. He looked over to see Bart gathering himself and getting to his feet. He did the same, and Bart led him downstairs. Bart stopped so suddenly at the bottom of the stairs that Tim almost bumped into him. He leaned over to Bart.

"What's wrong?"

"Uh…"

"You _can_ remember which apartment it is, right?"

"'Course I can, stupid. It'll just…. take me a minute."

Tim sat down on the steps behind Bart and waited. He rested his elbows on his knees, and put his head on his hand, tapping his cheek with his finger. Bart turned to look at him.

"Could ya cut that out? I'm tryin' to think here."

Tim sighed and rolled his eyes, but stopped his tapping. "Just hurry up, would ya? If we do this fast enough, we can get back to the Tower before Cyborg realises we're gone."

Bart crossed his arms and continued his train of thought. His eyes widened as he snapped his fingers as he remembered. "I got it!"

And with that, he shot away. Tim suddenly stood and reached out his hand.

"Hey, wait up!"

Tim ran after him, following the small trail of dust he had left in his wake.

_This guy's really starting to tick me off._

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Bart rounded the corner into Wally's apartment and burst through the door, not even considering if it was locked. His eyes widened at the man in the wheelchair sat in the apartment.

"Hey! Who are you? Where's Wally?"

The man in the wheelchair turned to look at him with equal surprise. "And who might you be?"

"I'm uh… Wally's brother."

The man raised an eyebrow, relaxing considerably.

"Oh… so _you're _the Bart from the future, eh?"

Bart's eyes darted around the room nervously. "I'm not… uh… how did you know that?"

He smiled. "I'm Jay Garrick; I'm a friend of Wally's."

"Oh. Okay."

Bart heard footsteps approaching and turned to see Robin entering the apartment. He spotted Jay and raised an eyebrow. "Whoa. Who's the old guy?"

Bart pointed at him over his shoulder. "He's a buddy of the Flash's."

"Oh, I get it. Kinda life Alfred."

"Like who?"

"Never mind."

Jay interrupted the two by turning off the television and pushing his wheelchair over to them. "Excuse me, but is there any reason that you broke out of Titans Tower to come here?"

Bart scratched the back of his neck nervously. "Well, yeah, uh… I just… Wally needs help, and I think that I can do that."

Jay smiled warmly and rolled over to the sofa, picking up the white box that lay there. He tossed it to Bart who caught it awkwardly in both arms.

"I know that junior wouldn't like this, but he needs as much help as he can get. And in there," he pointed at the box in Bart's arms, "is something which should help _you _to help _him_."

Bart frowned in confusion and laid the box down on the kitchen table. He opened it and both he and Robin froze. Bart felt as though his jaw was on the floor. His arms felt like lead weights as he breathlessly reached into the box, pulling out the yellow and red costume that lay neatly folded within. He looked from the costume to Jay, to Robin and back to the costume again.

"I uh… that… uh… that's…"

Bart felt Robin's hand on his shoulder. "What're you waiting for? Put it on."

Bart dumbly nodded and walked into Wally's room. A few seconds later, Bart emerged from the room as Kid Flash, his hands on his hips and a deliriously happy grin on his face. Jay scratched his chin.

"Hmm… a bit baggier than I remember, but still…"

Bart just stood, looking down at the costume that he wore. Jay was right, it was a bit baggier than Bart remembered from the history books, but he put that down to Wally being older than him when he gave up being Kid Flash. He looked up at Robin, who was grinning inanely.

"So, one crime fighting partner to another, what do ya think?"

Robin nodded. "Very cool."

"I'm sorry to interrupt the moment, but The Flash needs your help," Jay interceded.

Bart looked at Jay, knocked out of his geek-out moment. "Oh, uh… right."

He headed for the door and Robin put a hand on his shoulder. "Where do you think you're going? Remember our deal? Wherever you go, I go."

"But this is-"

"Dangerous? Ooo, I'm scared. It's not like I've ever been in danger before, is it?"

Bart smirked and turned around. "Grab on, buddy."

Jay came forward, a frown wrinkling his brow. "Now hold on. I don't think-"

Bart shot away without another word, taking Robin with him.

"-that's a good idea…" Jay finished, trailing off. He smiled and chuckled to himself.

"Young people…"

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Wally growled as he simply couldn't catch up with Zoom.

_I am getting mighty sick of looking at his butt._

He had hoped that he would have been able to catch up with him before he reached the City, but Zoom had proven too quick and agile. And when Wally actually managed to get him to slow down, he would simply shoot off in the direction of the City at every opportunity – and it was ticking Wally off.

Just as Wally was about to try taunting him, Zoom stopped and turned, extending his arm in hopes of catching Wally with a clothesline to the neck. Wally ducked and skidded underneath, adopting the pose of a surfer as he sailed beneath. He came to a halt and turned towards his opponent to see him charging towards him, his hand drew back in a clenched fist. Wally easily sidestepped the blow and responded with one of his own. Unfortunately, Zoom dodged his blow with the same ease.

And so it continued back and forth, Wally and Zoom's blows getting close and closer to one another as they both went faster and faster. Wally felt the wind shoot by his face as Zoom's fists sailed by at sub-sonic speeds. Wally managed to connect a fist with Zoom's chin, and he saw and felt the shockwave that resulted from it, the windows in the skyscrapers surrounding them shattering. Zoom quickly came back with a blow of his own, which connected with Wally's stomach, the resulting shockwave overturning a few cars and causing parts of some buildings to crumble. Wally clenched his teeth and did his best to ignore the pain, resolving to stand his ground and save Hunter if it was the last thing he did.

Wally came back with another blow to Zoom, and Zoom responded in kind. And so it went on, the two speedsters landing blow after blow on one another as they went faster and faster, their costume's being torn apart by the shockwaves coming from the supersonic blows. Wally felt ribs cracking and the all too familiar smell of blood filled his nostrils. He saw Zoom's costume tearing and the bruises appearing on his face also, and felt a certain amount of gratification at that fact; that Zoom was being hurt to the same extent that he was. Zoom ducked Wally's next blow and leapt back from the melee, and Wally felt secretly relieved. They stood a few metres from one another, staring into each others' eyes as they attempted to catch their breath, gasping for air desperately, not daring to take their eyes off each other.

Zoom glanced downwards to see that his left foot was on a manhole covering and smiled slightly. Wally paused and cautiously awaited the next attack, his entire body protesting at his sudden tensing up. Wally winced beneath his mask, being careful to keep his eyes open wide enough to see what Zoom was doing. Zoom slammed his foot down on the manhole covering, flipping the metallic disk up and into his waiting arms. The bruised and battered Zoom spun around while carrying his projectile, releasing it a high speed. Wally prepared himself to dodge the metal disk speeding towards him when he realised it wasn't aimed at him.

His eyes widened as he turned and saw a woman with her foot trapped underneath some rubble, her daughter trying desperately to pull her out. Wally sped after the manhole covering and extended his arms, his fingers outstretched until they lightly touched the very tip of the makeshift weapon. He grabbed onto the disk and pulled it to a halt, throwing it to the ground harmlessly. He gently put a hand on the shoulder of the daughter and gave her a reassuring smile. She stepped aside and Wally pulled the mother from the rubble. He inspected her ankle where it had been trapped underneath the rubble and looked up at her.

"It's okay… You'd better get out of here," he said, smiling kindly. She smiled back, and picked up her daughter, backing away slowly.

"Thank you… thank you so much."

And with that, she turned and ran. Wally couldn't help the grin on his face, but it quickly faded as Zoom suddenly appeared beside him, his fist connecting with his chin and sending his head twisting around while sending his body careening across the street and through the building opposite, enveloping Wally in darkness.

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Bart turned the corner in time to see Zoom speeding towards a large hole in the building opposite. Acting on impulse, Bart charged forward, his elbow extended forward, aiming for Zoom's chest. Zoom obviously wasn't expecting an attack judging from the loud grunt that escaped from his lips as Bart collided with him, sending him falling backwards. He turned the fall into a backwards roll, ending up once again on his feet. He turned his gaze up to see Bart, and Bart adopted a cocky pose, putting his hands on his hips while he grinned, hoping that it would suggest he knew what he was doing. He berated himself for doing something so stupid.

_I bet Wally never does this._

Zoom raised an eyebrow. "Who are you supposed to be?"

Bart poked his thumb into his chest. "I'm Kid Flash."

Zoom seemed amused by this. "I know Kid Flash; and I just buried him. I don't know who you are, but you aren't…" Realisation seemed to dawn on his face. "Oh, so you're _him_."

"Huh?"

"You're that boy West was talking about… Bart… from the future."

"Doesn't really matter, 'cause I'm gonna kick your butt either way," Bart said, grinning the entire time.

_Well, it's either that or pee my pants._

"We'll see," Zoom said, readying himself for an attack. Bart suddenly felt a little bit ticked off that Zoom wasn't taking him seriously and charged forward. He threw his fists forward as fast as he could, and Zoom dodged each one of them with a smirk on his face the entire time. Bart growled in frustration and increased the speed of his blows. Zoom started to deflect the blows before deciding to fight back. He caught Bart's left fist in his hand and slammed his spare hand into Bart's stomach. Bart almost doubled over and felt Zoom hand tangled in his hair, pulling him back up. He latched onto Bart's arm and twirled him round, letting him go and slamming him into the side of a car.

Bart felt incredibly dizzy, and attempted to pull himself to his feet. Zoom grabbed him by the collar, bringing back his fist. Bart winced in anticipation of the pain when he heard a strange noise heading towards them. Zoom turned in time to see two birdarangs heading towards him. He swept out his hand and deflected both of the projectiles, sending them flying off in different directions. Bart fell to the floor and attempted to recover while Zoom's back was turned towards the new enemy. Robin leapt from the top of the building and landed with the ease of a gymnast in front of Zoom.

"Okay buddy, seriously. I know you're trying to make a statement with the costume, but yellow doesn't work anymore; trust me," Robin said, grinning as he gestured to his cape.

"Is there any more coming, or are you all there's going to be?" Zoom asked, the irritation seeping into his voice.

"Nope. Just us buddy."

Bart took that opportunity to leap onto Zoom's back, hitting him over the head as fast as he could manage. Zoom stumbled forward, growling in anger as he tried to remove Bart from his back. Robin pulled out his extending staff and attacked, scoring a few hits on the distracted Zoom. Zoom roared in frustration and swatted Robin away with super speed force, sending him slamming into a wall. Having removed one distraction, he reached over his head and grabbed Bart by the scruff of his neck, throwing him over his shoulder and into where he had sent Robin.

Robin's attempt to get up was foiled by Bart's suddenly slamming into him, knocking the wind out of him as he did so. Robin looked down to see that Bart had managed to knock himself unconscious on a piece of rubble nearby. Robin cursed under his breath as he found that he couldn't move Bart from on top of him.

"What do you eat, buddy?" he muttered to the unconscious form on top of him.

He looked up to see Zoom standing over them, both arms raised behind his head. He grinned before bringing them down faster than Robin could see.

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Wally screeched to a halt, dropping Robin and the unconscious Bart a little rougher than he should have done, but he didn't care at that moment.

"What the hell were you doing back there? You can't match up against Zoom! Hell, I only just managed to save you guys before he killed you! Are you crazy?"

Robin put up his arms in an 'I surrender' pose. "Hey, it wasn't _my _idea."

"Oh, so I suppose _Cyborg_ let you out of the Tower so you could get yourself killed!"

Robin scratched the back of his neck. "Oh yeah, that… yeah, that was kinda my idea… but _he _was the one who wanted to go in the first place!" he said, pointing at the unconscious boy lying next to him.

Wally glared at Robin. "Just get outta here."

Robin shook his head. "No way, you need help to-"

"NOW!"

Robin briefly jumped up in the air and quickly picked up Bart and slung him over his shoulder. He pulled his harpoon gun from his belt, pointing it in the air, and fired it. He was about to swing away before he turned back to face Wally.

"Good luck."

Wally nodded and shot back towards where he last saw Zoom when he was about to crush Bart and Robin. The rage burned in Wally now. He turned the corner to see Zoom waiting for him, his arms crossed and the same insane grin spread across his face. There was no sign of Hunter in there anymore. Hunter wouldn't try to kill children; not even to get to his enemies.

His eyes narrowed as he addressed his enemy.

"You want me to learn? Then let's learn."

Wally sped towards Zoom and ran straight by him, prompting Zoom to follow. Wally didn't even bother to check if he was following; he didn't care. If he stayed in the same place, he would do the same thing to Zoom that he did to Luthor and Brainiac. Wally ran as fast as he possibly could, pushing past the pain and fatigue that plagued his body. He used Jay's vibration training and applied it to his running; to let the speed run through his entire body until it felt like a part of him. As he ran, places began to blur around him, noises began to fade away; all that was left was complete silence.

Blue lights began to dance across Wally's vision, and Wally instantly knew what was happening; he was approaching the Speed Force, just as he had when he fought Luthor and Brainiac. He looked over and saw Zoom running side by side with him, the same blue energy crackling around him. But there was something else; there was some kind of black energy draining from him, looking like a dying shadow. Wally felt something jolt through him as the monstrous shadow was torn apart; like a scream through the Speed Force. Wally knew what had just happened.

Clariss had been ripped apart by the Speed Force.

He looked over at Hunter, hoping that they could somehow slow down before they were consumed as Wally once was. He tried to say something to Hunter, to do something to make him stop. But as he looked over, he saw that Hunter was only half there; he was fading away just as Wally had. Panicking, he looked down to see if he himself was still in one piece. He was relieved to find that he had not yet started to become part of the Speed Force. It gave him hope; hope that he and Hunter could come out of this; that everything could go back to the way it was…

Ashley and Hunter would get back together.

Wally and Hunter would be friends again.

He reached out his arm to Hunter, making one final plead to his best friend. Hunter looked back at Wally. That's when he realised just how little of his friend Hunter Zolomon remained. He now hated Wally so much that he would rather die than accept his help. He hated Wally so much, that all he could see in Hunter's eyes was rage; pure uncontrollable rage.

Wally's face became one of sadness as Hunter Zolomon, Wally's best friend, faded away, becoming one with the blue light that surrounded the two speedsters.

Wally strained to slow himself, and somehow managed to pull himself backwards through the Speed Force, the blue lights disappearing one by one as the world began to reappear around him. Wally stopped running and slammed his feet into the ground, skidding to a halt for what seemed like an eternity, before he finally stopped in the middle of a road in an unfamiliar city.

But Wally didn't notice the looks of confusion and wonderment on the bystander faces.

He didn't notice the foreign surroundings as the tears stung the cuts that riddled his face.

All he knew was that his best friend of over ten years had died.

He had died because of him.

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(A/N: More to come, so review people!)


	9. What Lies Ahead

Disclaimer: I don't own, Flash, Wally West, Bart Allen, or any of the other DC stuff in this story.

_**Legacies**_

_**Chapter 9: What Lies Ahead**_

Wally ran half heartedly through the streets of Metropolis. He had ended up somewhere in Australia, and it had taken him the better part of the day to arrive in Metropolis, which was closer than Central City. Wally had taken longer than usual to traverse the ocean, mostly because his heart wasn't in it. Usually he enjoyed running at such high speeds, as it allowed him to clear his head and see things from a calmer perspective. But this time his mind was a blank. He wasn't thinking about Bart, he wasn't thinking about the League; he wasn't even thinking about Hunter. His mind was quite simply incapable of thought. All that concerned him was the water beneath his feet as he ran across the ocean and eventually ended up in Metropolis.

He turned another corner and found the Justice League Metro Tower looming in front of him. As he reached the entrance on the ground floor he slowed to walking pace, his energy drained from him by the battle and the long journey home. He was about to step through the doors when he heard a voice from above.

"Wally!"

He looked up to see John Stewart slowly floating down towards him, a look of concern and anger on his face.

"Where have you been?"

Normally Wally would have become confrontational with him, coming up with some clever retort or quip, but today was no normal day. He looked up at John with dull eyes.

"Why? What's the problem?"

"What's the problem? You've been gone for a week!"

Wally's eyes widened slightly. "A week…?" he said, talking more to himself than to John.

"What were you doing?"

Wally put his hand on his head, trying to sort through his memories of what was, at least to him, the events of the past few hours. "I raced Hunter… and then he… but it only took me a few hours to get home…"

"Well _something _must have happened in-between! What-"

"Go easy on him, son. Maybe I can shed some light on the situation."

Wally and John turned to see Jay Garrick coming towards them through the doors of the Metro Tower. He gestured over his shoulder with his thumb.

"Maybe we should take this inside? Junior looks ready to collapse."

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After some rest and a few cups of coffee, Wally felt more ready to talk about what he remembered. The door to his room opened, and John entered first, closely followed by Jay. As soon as he saw Ashley, Wally felt heavier. He wasn't looking forward to telling her. Robin and Bart entered, Vic stood over them with his arms crossed like an angry parent. Everyone became happier at the sight of Wally, but he couldn't share in their joy. Bart leapt charged towards Wally with a grin, almost knocking the wind out of him as he wrapped his arms around his stomach.

"You're okay! I thought after you disappeared and that you were dead, but then Jay said you were time travelling or something and then I-"

"Whoa whoa – time travel?" Wally said, managing to wrestle free of Bart's grip and look questioningly in Jay's direction. The older man shrugged.

"Happened to me more than once back in the day. I would run somewhere too fast and end up there a week late. It was only in very extreme cases though. As far as I can tell, I sort of 'skimmed' against the Speed Force momentarily, letting me travel through time as energy, at least for a short time. At least, that's me guess," he added, a wry smile on his face.

John took that moment to intercede. "What happened, Wally?"

Wally took a deep breath and began his story. "Well, I went to fight Zoom, and it was going pretty evenly between us, when these two-" he said, looking at Bart and than at Robin, who was sat in the corner of the room with Vic, "-thought that it'd be a good idea to try and help."

"Sorry about that._ Someone _was supposed to keep him in that room." Vic shot a glare at Robin, who proceeded to shrink further into his chair.

Wally sighed and continued. "Anyway, after that, I… I just got angry with him. And we raced. We… entered the Speed Force, and Clariss… he was… ripped apart… or something. I can't remember very well… the whole thing happened in a few seconds… I held out my hand to Hunter, but he…" The tears were welling up in his eyes as he remembered the look of utter hatred on his friends' face. "He wouldn't… he was already gone."

He looked up and saw Ashley with her hand over her mouth, tears streaming down her face. He stood and walked over to her, wrapping his arms around her and resting his head on her shoulder as she cried. The tears became caught in his mask, and he pulled it back, letting them flow freely down his cheeks. He didn't care about secret identities right now. The only person in the room who didn't know his identity was Robin, and he wasn't very likely to go blabbing.

"I'm so sorry Ashley. I tried, but…"

"He wasn't Hunter anymore," Ashley finished. The other occupants of the room gradually left, leaving the mourning friends to comfort each other as best they could.

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The city looked so peaceful from Titans Tower. For as long as he could remember, that was the way it had always been. There used to be so much crime in that city, but from the huge window, Wally had never been able to tell. He was glad for the familiarity of this place, for how much he felt at home here. As illustrious as the Watchtower and the Metro Tower were, this place felt like home, and the people inside like family. The Justice League had become much more about business, and the family of seven that Wally had grown to care for had been separated by that business. And so, the Titans were the most familiar thing he had left. He sipped at his coffee, grimacing as he realised that it was cold. He turned to go to the kitchen area, putting the cup in the sink. Most of the other Titans had now returned from their various missions, and the Tower was now abuzz with activity.

He looked over the lounge area and smiled at his memories of the place, being sat playing games with Garfield, reading a comic book in silence next to Raven, or simply hanging out with his five teenage friends. He sighed and left the room, heading down to the lab. It had been nearly a week since he had returned to the land of the living, and the others had gone their separate ways.

Jay, having felt like his job was done, had said his goodbyes and left, disappearing into the wind. Wally hoped that he would meet him again someday, or at least become as wise as he was.

John had gone back to business as usual, although he now checked up on Wally once a week. They had already gone to see a ball game and a movie, and Wally was enjoying hanging out with the Green Lantern again.

Ashley had left Central City and had gone up north to live with her parents for a while. She promised to keep in touch and tell him what she was up to now and then.

Vic had taken Bart and Robin back to the Tower, and had called Wally shortly after with the news that he had managed to get at the data on the disc. That was why Wally was here in the first place.

He went down to the lab area of the Tower, and looked around the room, marvelling at the various gizmos and 'whirly doodads' that were spread around the room. It reminded him of the Atom's lab in the Metro Tower, and he instinctively felt a little bit more on edge. He found Vic engrossed in a computer terminal, frantically pushing buttons and tweaking knobs and adjusting dials. He looked over to see Wally and smiled, waving him in.

"C'mon in man. I've just about go this thing working. Just watch the screen," he said, pointing at a monitor on the other end of the room. Wally fixed his eyes on it as it sprang to life. Vic walked over to his side.

"Before you watch this, I gotta warn you that the visual is gone. I doubt we'll be able to get it in this lifetime."

"But we can still _hear _it, right?"

Vic frowned. "Actually… the sound might be a _little _bit messed up."

"What?"

"I'm sorry, but this stuff is really advanced. If you want to wait for about a hundred years until you can see and hear it in pristine condition, then by all means…"

Wally huffed and looked forward. "Just play it."

Vic pushed a button on the control panel behind him and the monitor began to speak. It was a woman's voice, though Wally couldn't tell if he had heard it before or not. Static crackled throughout the message, making some of the words inaudible, causing Vic to simply smile apologetically.

"I suppose that you don't-…………………… -but then again, maybe you do, and I'm just not giving you enough credit. You've probably already met Bart. I wanted to ask you to help him. We've been-……………………………………… -it shows no signs of-………………………………-sent him back to a point where you know enough about your powers to help him. Whether you can or not, please send him back to us through the Cosmic Treadmill to-………………………………………………-just please try. We've tried everything else, and you're our last resort. Please-………………………………"

The monitor blinked out, and Vic pushed the button behind him again to turn off the monitor. "You want to hear it again?"

Wally dumbly shook his head. He frowned in thought. "'When I know enough about my powers?' But I don't! I don't know anything about my powers! I just go fast!"

Vic pondered for a moment. "Maybe they messed up. Over shot the mark by a few years. She was talking about the Cosmic Treadmill like you'd already built it."

The full ramifications of that explanation hit Wally. "Then… what can I do for Bart? I mean… I can't… I don't know what I can do!"

"Actually…" Vic said rubbing his chin in thought. "I was thinking about what you said that Jay Garrick guy taught you about vibration, and I think that might be the key."

Wally eyes widened as he faced his robotic friend. "You mean you know what to do?"

"It's just a theory man. I'm not even sure if it would work."

"Good enough for me."

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"So… explain this to me again. I'm gonna do what to Bart?" Wally asked, scratching his head as he tried desperately to understand Vic's plan.

Vic sighed as they turned the corner and entered the observation room for Bart's specially designed med bay. As they entered, a blond girl who appeared to be wearing a version of Wonder Woman's costume turned to look at who was entering. Her eyes widened as she looked at Wally in awe.

"You're the… the…"

Vic guided her out of the room while Wally just grinned. "That's right Cassie, he's the Flash… now I'm gonna take care of things in here, so why don't you just… annoy Robin or something."

She turned to object as Vic pushed her out of the room, but Vic pushed the close button too quickly and cut her off.

"Kids," he said, smiling at Wally. Wally resumed his questioning.

"Okay, so what am I doing here? I mean, do I just stand there or…?"

Vic pinched the bridge of his nose. "No, no, Wally… look, you know how I said that Bart became normal when you were near him?"

Wally nodded. "Yeah?"

"Well, after listening to all that vibration talk, I got to thinking that maybe you speedsters have vibration patterns. Non-speedsters probably have them to, but we don't go fast enough to use them like you do."

"Okay…"

"So, Bart's vibration pattern is what's messing him up. But when you're near him, your vibration pattern forces his to adapt to yours."

"Why?"

Vic paused for a moment. "Because… I don't know why. Maybe it's got something to do with how you got your powers. Anyway, I got to thinking that if you did that whole 'vibrating through solid objects' thing to Bart, it would force his vibration pattern to act like yours permanently."

"Right…" Wally said, nodding very slowly.

"Like I said, it's just a theory. And a pretty flimsy one at that."

"I guess it's worth a try, right?"

Vic nodded. "Right."

Wally ran round and entered Bart's specially contained room, and the boys' face lit up at the sight of the scarlet speedster.

"Hey! Can we go soon, because-" he stopped as he saw the grim look on Wally's face. "What's up?"

Wally took a deep breath. "I'm gonna fix you."

"You are? Great! What're you gonna do?"

Wally paused for a moment, wondering how best to phrase it. "I'm going to… vibrate… _through _you."

"_Through _me?"

Wally nodded, and then knelt before Bart, putting his hands on his shoulders. "This could be really dangerous, Bart. If you don't want to, I won't force you."

"Are you kidding? C'mon, let's get this over with."

Wally stood and gave a forced smile, and turned towards Vic on the other side of the glass, giving him a thumbs up. Vic gave one back, giving Wally what he hoped was a supportive smile. He took a long breath through his nose and blew it out noisily through his mouth, and began jumping up and down on the spot, shaking his arms and legs to get the blood flowing. He cricked his neck.

"Okay… now just… stand there" he said, positioning Bart directly in front of him. "Don't move, okay?"

Bart gave Wally a heart-breakingly trusting smile and two thumbs up. Wally closed his eyes beneath his mask for a moment in a silent prayer.

_Please God, don't let him die._

Wally began to shake himself, letting the vibration flow through him, just has he had done countless times before. He edged forward towards Bart, his entire body a red and yellow blur. Wally continued to edge forward, going faster and faster until…

His body came into contact with Bart. Bart grunted as Wally shook faster and faster, his molecules bumping up against Bart's. Wally pushed himself as fast as he could, hoping with all his heart that he didn't slow down. And then he was suddenly through him. He stopped vibrating, slowing down to where he could clearly see everything around him. He smiled in happiness at his accomplishment, and then turned to see Bart on the floor, unconscious. In an instant, Wally was by his side, cradling the boys' head.

Vic burst through the door, scanning Bart with the sensors built into his arm. Wally looked at his friend hopefully. Vic looked up at Wally and smiled.

"He's okay man."

Wally grinned in euphoria, wrapping his arms around the unconscious boy in his arms. He looked up at Vic.

"But… what about… is he, uh, fixed?"

"Only one way to find out."

Wally nodded and gently handed the boy over to Vic. He left the room and ran to the observation room. Wally heard the microphone activate and Vic's voice boomed through.

"It worked man! He's okay!"

Wally grinned and ran back around, hugging Vic in joy and laughing inanely. Vic smiled fondly, allowing his friend this moment of goofy happiness. After what he had gone through in the past few days, he had earned it.

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The door to Wally's apartment opened and Bart shot through, landing on the couch. Wally stumbled through the door with the stack of pizza boxes.

"Okay, so… now that you've fixed me, what happens now?"

Wally sighed and closed the door. He put the boxes down on the table, tossing one to Bart. Bart opened it and proceeded to greedily stuff his face. Wally smiled and followed suit. After the gluttony was done, Wally sat down next to Bart, both of them suitably stuffed.

"Okay, first of all, no more Kid Flash stuff, okay?"

Bart jerked his head up to look at Wally. "But… why not?"

"Because it's really dangerous, and you're really young and stupid."

Bart frowned. "How old were you when you were Kid Flash?"

"Uh… that's not the point. The point is, you can't."

"But you'd be able to look after me, right? I mean, you're like, one of the greatest superheroes ever."

Wally smiled and stared up at the ceiling for a little while longer before responding. "I knew there was a reason I liked you. But… seriously, it's just too dangerous."

"But I've got all of your powers! And it's not like I'm stupid enough to go off and fight supervillains by myself."

"What about when you fought Zoom?"

"Robin was with me!"

Wally snorted and stood, scratching the back of his neck in thought. "I don't know... I mean… I can't look after you all the time…" he snapped his fingers. "I've got it! Bart, hand me the box under the sofa."

Bart complied and handed the box over. Wally smiled and pointed at the box. "You open it."

Bart raised a suspicious eyebrow, but opened the box anyway. His eyes widened as he saw the contents. He pulled out a brand new Kid Flash costume, with a Teen Titans communicator resting on the neatly folded clothing. He looked back to Wally, who simply shrugged.

"Every superhero needs a sidekick."

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Bart sat on the rooftop of Titans Tower, and realised that for the first time in a long while, he wasn't staring at his costume in wonderment. Who would have thought it? He, Bart Allen, was Kid Flash, sidekick to the legendary Flash, and a member of the Teen Titans. Well, it was just 'The Titans' now, according to Changeling. Changeling was probably his favourite teacher out of them all. Probably because he reminded Bart of Wally.

Raven was okay, but a little too short with Bart when he didn't catch on quick enough. But then again, he didn't catch on most of the time because he wasn't paying attention, but still.

Starfire was nice (good to look at), but she could put Bart on a guilt trip just by looking at him. He would be screwing around with Tim or Cassie, and she would turn around and look all sad and hurt, which would make Bart behave. He wasn't sure if she was genuinely hurt when he goofed off or if she was just manipulating them. Bart was pretty sure it was the former rather than the latter.

Then there was Cyborg, who spent most of his time arguing with Robin over something or other that didn't really matter. And they both loved every minute of it. Of course, Bart had a lot to thank him for. Wally had told Bart what had been wrong with him after he had 'fixed' him, and Bart would be forever grateful to him. As it was now, Bart was about fourteen.

That was why Changeling was different than the others. He was so laid back and relaxed almost all of the time. It was hard to believe all the stories that the others would tell of a hyperactive and nervous young Beast Boy. Now he was almost a different person.

Occasionally Nightwing visited his old team-mates, although he rarely taught the students. Or talked to them, for that matter. He only talked to Robin now and then. In fact, he was downstairs talking to him right now while Bart waited on the roof for Wally to arrive to 'pick him up'. Bart had protested over Wally's escorting him back to Central City, but Wally had insisted. The arrangement was that Bart would work with and stay with the Titans most of the time, and Wally would come and visit him once a week, and bring him back to Central City now and then to hang out and fight crime.

Bart heard the door behind him open, and Tim stepped through, talking to someone as he did so.

"Here he is! Bar-, uh… Kid Flash! Come here and meet Nightwing!"

Bart jumped to his feet and ran over to meet them, arriving in a split second. "Cool to meet you," he said quickly, extending his hand.

Nightwing smiled and extended his own hand. "Likewise." He looked around the rooftop. "Up here by yourself?"

Bart shook his head. "Nah. I'm waiting for-"

A red blur appeared and shot towards them, stopping in front of them to reveal Wally West, otherwise known as the Flash.

"-him," Bart finished.

Nightwing smiled at the new arrival. "Hey. You didn't mention that you'd got a sidekick."

Wally grinned. "Didn't I?"

"Since when?"

"It's, uh… complicated. We still on for this weekend?"

"Unless you chicken out again."

Wally put his hands on his hips, indignant. "I didn't chicken out! I had to take down the Trickster! Ask Bart, he was there," he said smugly, crossing his arms.

Bart nodded. "Yep, he's right."

Wally smirked. "There! You see?"

Bart looked at the two friends and shook his head in awe. "Wow… I didn't think I'd ever see this…"

Nightwing turned towards him. "See what?" he asked, eyebrow raised.

"You two being all buddy buddy. I mean, there's a whole section devoted to you in the Flash Museum."

Nightwing looked up at Wally, thoroughly confused. "'Flash Museum'?"

Wally looked over at him. "He's from the future," he said nonchalantly.

Dick nodded. "Oh. So," he said, turning back towards Bart, "a whole section, huh?"

"Well… not a whole section. You're in the 'Friends of the Flash' section. But you and Green Lantern have like a quarter of the room each."

Wally smiled. "G.L has his own section?"

Nightwing smiled and turned back to his friend. "Well, I've got to get going."

"Where you off to?"

Nightwing's smile became a smirk. "Got a date."

Robin put his finger in his mouth, making a retching noise. "You're just jealous," Nightwing said before he turned and pulled Robin back downstairs by the cape. "Good to meet you, Kid Flash. And I'll see you on the weekend, Flash. Be prepared to lose a lot of money."

"In your dreams, buddy."

Nightwing and Robin left, leaving Bart looking up at Wally in puzzlement. Wally smiled back at him.

"Poker; I'll explain it to you someday." Wally pointed over his shoulder. "You want to get out of here?"

Bart nodded, but then stopped before he ran. "Hey, Wally?"

Wally turned to look at him, getting out of his 'preparing to run' position. "What's up?"

"Are you okay?"

Wally cocked his head slightly. "How'd you mean?"

"I mean the whole Hunter Zolomon thing. Are you okay?"

"What makes you think anything's wrong?"

Bart simply remained silent, raising an eyebrow at him. Wally laughed slightly, a sad look crossing his face.

"You've been spending too much time with Raven," he said quietly, turning to look out to sea, the water glistening from the sunset.

"So?" Bart said, walking over to Wally and standing alongside him. "Are you okay?"

Wally took a deep breath, keeping his eyes on the sunset. "I will be, I guess. It's just that… he was my best friend. And he decided that he would rather die than let me…" Wally trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence. Bart put a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah, but… you said yourself that the Hunter that you knew was gone, right? So… that wasn't Hunter who wouldn't let you help him; it was Zoom."

Wally smiled, continuing to stare at the descending sun. "Definitely been spending too much time with Raven…" He turned to look at Bart. "I'll be okay."

"Okay then," Bart said, walking towards the edge of the building. "Shall we go?"

"Let's do it," Wally said. "Bart?"

"Yeah, Wally?"

"Thanks."

"Anything for my great great great great… whatever you are."

Wally grinned fondly and sped away towards Central City, his partner in justice running alongside him easily. As the wind whipped past his face, filling his lungs, he felt his problems being washed from his body as though they never existed. He knew that as soon as he slowed down again, those problems would catch up to him again, but now it was different.

Now he wasn't alone.

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(A/N: Good? Bad? Review!)


	10. Epilogue

Disclaimer: Don't own DC stuff that's in this story

_**Legacies**_

_**Epilogue**_

He looked around the darkened room and wondered for what seemed like the millionth time what this place looked like in its' prime, the statues glistening, the articles fresh and readable. A veritable treasure trove of information about his favourite figure in history. He clutched the book he held in his arms just that little bit tighter. He came across the treadmill that was on display in the center of the room and ran his fingers across the smooth surface, wondering how many times _he _had touched the same controls… how many times _he_ had sped off into the past or the future to fight the forces of evil.

How he wanted to see those battles. How he wanted to meet the man himself, shake his hand; ask him about fighting Murmur, or how he defeated the evil Gorilla Grodd. He shook his head and sighed heavily, wondering if he would ever get the chance to see anything as exciting as that. He often wished that he didn't live in such a peaceful and crime free time; he almost wished for the spirit of selfishness that possessed the criminals of the twenty first century would inhabit the people in his era, so that heroes would rise again to fight evil.

Heroes like Wally West: The Flash.

Blue lightning danced across his vision, knocking him from his reverie and instilling him with confused fear. The lightning became more frantic, creating a shower of sparks. He covered his face from the blinding light, when it suddenly vanished. He cautiously lowered his arms to see a man lying in a smooth crater, his torn yellow clothing barely covering his body.

"My God…" he whispered, before finding his voice and standing. "Are… are you all right?"

The man simply groaned and tried to get to his feet. He stumbled and was about to fall when he caught him. He helped him over to a chair and lowered him into it.

"What happened to you? Where did you come from?"

The man shook his head. "Don't… remember…" he mumbled, the words punctured by incoherent grunting noises.

"What's you name?"

"I don't… remember!" he said, his voice rising in frustration. He looked around him, his eyes adjusting to the darkness around him. "Where…?"

"You're in the Flash Museum. Listen, I think you need to see a doctor."

But the man wasn't listening. "Flash Museum…" He stood and stumbled to his feet, managing to cross the room before stopping at the treadmill. "Then this is…" he said, his hands running across the control panel.

"The Cosmic Treadmill. Look, I need to get you to the hospital."

The man seemed reluctant at first, but finally relented, putting his arm around the stranger's arm. "Who… are you?" he asked, his voice quickly fading.

"My name is Eobard Thawne. Don't worry; I'll see to it that you get the help you need."

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THE END

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(A/N: And there you have it, folks.

My thanks to:

The Worlds Finest (www. worldsfinestonline .com)

Flash: Those Who Ride the Lightning (www. hyperborea .org / flash)

Titans Tower (www. titanstower .com)

And finally, thanks to you for reading and reviewing! Except for those of you who didn't review, in which case I hope you didn't get any candy this Halloween. Nyah.

Anyway, remember to review this chapter too! Good, Bad, or just generally wrong? Review!)


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